


A Tale of Ever After

by knittingknots



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Canon - Manga, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-02-24
Updated: 2012-06-13
Packaged: 2017-10-31 16:04:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 30,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/345962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knittingknots/pseuds/knittingknots
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And they lived happily ever after - my vision of what InuYasha and Kagome's happily ever after. Picks up the day of Kagome's return to the past. This is gonna be long...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi_

 

**Chapter One**

  
  


It was getting near the end of a rather remarkable day.

Sango rocked her infant son as she watched one of the twins sitting on the lap of the friend she had thought she would never see again. The toddler was nodding off, nestled in the crook of Kagome's arm.

The light from the fire pit flickered over their faces, and on the silver hair and face of the man who sat next to Kagome. Since InuYasha had helped her out of the well earlier in the day, the two had been inseparable. Through all the visits with Kaede and the villagers, and through dinner when she and Miroku had caught their friend up with the high points of their lives since they had last been together, InuYasha had been remarkably patient, but no one could get him to take more than a few steps away from his miko.

And from the looks of it, Sango decided Kagome was perfectly content with his nearness. The three-year separation they had been through seemed to have not lessened their feelings for each other. In fact, it was just the opposite. They had been sneaking glances at each other and little touches all day. It continued through dinner as they sat next to each other, touching hands, sometimes blushing. Although Kagome seemed happy to listen to Miroku's stories, and was trying to pay attention, from time to time, her eyes would meet InuYasha's, and the two of them would be lost to the world around them.

Sango looked down at her sleeping baby. It had bothered her for a long time how it seemed that everybody else seemed to have had their happy ever after except for the two who were most responsible for Naraku's end and the destruction of the Shikon no Tama. Even Kohaku had found peace and a way to make up for having been one of Naraku's tools. For the last three years, InuYasha had been wrapped in a sorrow he really tried to hide, but she could see it peeking through when he thought no one was looking. Sometimes, as she and Miroku had started their life together and raised their children, she felt guilty at her happiness when she knew he deserved more. But today, all that had changed. Sango couldn't remember when last she saw her hanyou friend with such an aura of peace. All the sadness had simply vanished the moment he pulled Kagome up out of the well.

The reunited couple had been generous today, giving up the day to their friends and the villagers who were happily surprised at Kagome's return. But now, Sango thought they needed some time for themselves. She put her son in his basket cradle and looked at the sleeping child in Kagome's arms, then back at Miroku. He must have been thinking along the same lines, because he nodded at her.

"I think it's time for the little ones to go to sleep," he said, picking up his other daughter from where she had curled up to sleep next to his thigh. "You are welcome to stay here tonight, Kagome-sama, if you'd like."

"Thank you, Miroku. But I told Kaede that I would be staying with her and Rin." Kagome smiled at her friends, and handed the sleeping child back to Sango. "There's so much to catch up on! But it's so good to be back."

That woke up a drowsing kitsune. "Can I come with you?" Shippou asked. He hopped from his place on the floor to Miroku's shoulder.

Before InuYasha could say anything, Miroku grabbed the boy with his free hand. "No, not tonight, Shippou. Remember our talk this afternoon?"

The kitsune's face fell, but he nodded. "Yeah. I forgot. I'm staying here tonight."

"That's right. I need you to help me in the morning," Miroku said. "You have to keep Chiya-sama's daughters amused while I talk to her about the temple. Plus, I think her youngest daughter likes you."

Shippou blushed a bit. "You think so?"

"Yes," Miroku said. "You don't want to disappoint her by not being there, right?"

"Right," the kitsune said, perking up. "And you're not going away again, are you, Kagome?"

"Nope," Kagome replied. "I'm here for good."

She caught InuYasha's eyes as she spoke. A small smile touched the hanyou's lips, nowhere near a smirk.

Sango picked up her daughter. "Be sure you come by tomorrow. I have some stuff I would like to give you, some clothes and other things. Or maybe I'll just have Miroku bring them over later tonight."

Kagome nodded as she stood up. "Thanks. I really didn't have time to bring anything with me except what I have on."

"We're just glad you're here," Miroku said. Shippou jumped off his shoulder as he stood up. "Whatever we can do to help you get situated, we'll do it."

"Yeah," InuYasha said softly. For some reason, that soft word made Kagome blush prettily.

He and Kagome walked to the door, and after a few more words, they left. Miroku and Sango stood there with their daughters, watching the couple walk down the path.

"She's grown up," Miroku commented.

"I was so afraid she'd never come back," Sango said, leaning against her husband's shoulder.

"InuYasha knew, I think," said Miroku, wrapping his arm around his wife. "Even though he was willing to give her up forever if it would make her happy, I don't think he ever really doubted."

He gave Sango a little squeeze. "I suspect the next few days are going to be rather interesting."

"Don't you tease him, husband," Sango said, going back into the house.

"What, me?" he said, trying to look innocent.

"Yes, you." Sango replied. "He, both of them, deserve some happiness."

"That's true," the monk replied, and he followed her back in and slid the door closed.


	2. Chapter 2

_I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi_

  


**Chapter Two**

InuYasha and Kagome rounded the bend where the path from Miroku's house joined the path that lead both to the village and further into the woods, to the Goshinboku and places beyond.

Once he was sure they were out of sight, the hanyou stopped and leaned against a tree, taking Kagome by the hand.

"Let's stop a moment," InuYasha said.

Kagome nodded, and stood beside him. Off in the distance, they could see the village, with its scattered huts and its fields now green with wheat instead of the rice that would be planted later. The light was quickly fading from afternoon to twilight.

"Anything wrong?" she asked. He shook his head, and turned to face her. The look in his eyes, intense, otherworldly, was everything she remembered, but the look on his face was calm, at peace. She felt like nothing could be wrong again ever.

"Just glad to have a moment's quiet," he said. "I know everybody meant well, but . . . "

"So many questions," she said.

He nodded. "It's just nice to be alone."

"It is, isn't it?" She dropped her eyes and chewed on her bottom lip. "I know everybody wanted to say hello, but I don't know how much more I could have taken."

InuYasha laughed at her admission, and she looked up at him and smiled.

They were standing very close. InuYasha could feel her breath on his face. Her scent was like fine wine, stirring things in his mind and his heart and his body. He lifted his hand and ran a finger over Kagome's cheek.

"Kagome," he said. "I..." His tongue seemed to cleave to the roof of his mouth.

She brushed her fingers over his lips. "I missed you, InuYasha."

He caught her hand, and rested his cheek in it. "Every day, Kagome."

"I'm here now," she said. Her blue gray eyes gazed at him, getting lost in the moment.

He caught his breath."Yeah," he said, wrapping his arms around her, and her arms circled his waist.

"Don't leave me again, even if it's for my own good," she said. "I'll always find a way to come back." She reached up and tugged on his ear for emphasis.

"Never." He pulled her hand off his ear, then pulled her closer. "I don't think I could ever do that again."

"Good." He looked at her with such wanting, insecure, needy eyes. In return, she gave him an encouraging smile. "So where were you going to take me? It wasn't to Kaede's, was it?"

InuYasha dropped his arms. Taking her right hand, he backed away a step, giving her a little, sheepish grin as he shook his head. Tugging on her hand, he began to lead her a little further down the path, away from the village. "There's this place in the forest I'd like to show you."

"All right," she replied. "Let's go."

They headed deeper into the woods, away from Miroku's house and moving in the general direction of the Goshinboku and the well, down a path that branched off from the road that lead to Edo and places beyond.

"So what are we going to see?" Kagome asked.

"It's just up ahead," InuYasha said, and then they left the cover of the trees for a clearing in the forest.

A small stream ran across it to one side, coming down from its spring in the hills to join the river below. In the clearing was a small house, much like all the houses in the village.

The ground around it was uncluttered, no garden, no farm tools. There was a wood pile to one side, and a few dry weeds poked up around it, but not much other sign of domestic life.

"I know I've walked this way before," Kagome said as they neared it. "But I didn't know there was a house here."

"Wasn't here then," InuYasha said. He dropped her hand, and stuffed his own in his sleeves.

"Whose house is it?" she asked.

"Mine," he replied, not meeting her eyes. For some reason, his cheeks colored, and one of his ears twitched.

Kagome rested her hand on his arm "I was wondering why we were coming here."

"I thought you might like to see it," he said. "Get away from everybody for a while."

"I'd like that," she replied.

He wrapped his hand around hers again, and visibly relaxed. "Good. Just don't expect too much."

She nodded, and they walked up to the small building. Like most of the other houses in the area, it was plank roofed, with solid wooden walls and small shuttered windows, and had a bamboo mat door. InuYasha held back the door. It was nearly sunset, but there was still enough light for Kagome to find her way to the raised wooden floor and take off her shoes.

"I'll start a fire," InuYasha said. "You'll be able to see it better." He walked over to the fire pit, took his sword out of his belt and laid it next to him, and began sorting wood.

"All right," Kagome replied as she put her shoes near the door.

With the skill that comes from long practice, InuYasha struck flint to steel and soon had a fire burning in the fire pit. It cast a warm light in the small house, chasing away the spring chill.

As the room lit up, Kagome could see that the house was a little smaller than Kaede's hut, and much smaller than Miroku's. There was a folded pile of bedding in one corner and a couple of storage boxes, and by the fire pit, there were a couple of cooking pots and a low table that held a few dishes.

"How long have you had this place?" Kagome asked, shrugging off her sweater and laying it on the floor next to where she was sitting.

"I started building it before the twins were born," InuYasha said. "Some of the men in the village helped me with the framing. I never knew there was so much work involved, even in a place this small." He bent over the fire, feeding it small pieces of pine wood to give off more light. "Old Tameo, the headman - one day, he walked me here and told me I ought to have a place of my own. He told me it was so I could keep an eye out for bandits. We had a problem with them for a while the year after Naraku died. But to be honest," he said, looking up at her, "I think he just felt sorry for me being around Sango when she was carrying the twins."

"Was she that bad?" Kagome moved from the entrance to sit down on a mat near where he was working.

He nodded, poking the fire to get the larger pieces to catch. "She got really moody, especially the last few months. Miroku even had Kaede lock up the Hiraikotsu up at the shrine, just to be safe."

She laughed a little at that, but then fell silent as InuYasha finished building the fire. Drawing her legs up she rested her head on her knees. "Things have changed since I left."

"Some," he said, tossing in the final piece of wood. That done, he put down the fire poker and sat down beside her. His right ear twitching, he took a deep breath and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Some haven't changed at all."

Kagome looked up at him. The amber gaze her eyes met was warm and intense. She smiled a little, then sitting up, she rested her head lightly against his shoulder. "Have you?"

"Maybe," he replied.

"Yeah," Kagome said, "Me too. These last three years . . . I'm sorry it took so long for me to come back. You must have been terribly lonely."

He stared into the fire as he searched for words. "It . . . it was hard, yeah. I can't lie. But I knew you were safe, and there was so much to do at first - putting the village back to order after what Naraku had done to it, especially Kaede's house, and then building Miroku's house. Did you see he actually has built something he calls a temple? And right afterwards, a bunch of stupid youkai seemed to come out of the woodwork. It didn't take long for me and Miroku to get busy in the youkai exterminating business. It wasn't like when my mother died. I wasn't left alone. But still, at night and . . . " His throat grew tight, and he swallowed, trying to get the words out. "Feh," he finally managed to say. "That doesn't matter. You're here now."

Kagome picked up his hand, studied the claw-tipped fingers that could look so threatening. It was a fighter's hand, some might say a monster's hand, but to her was the hand of the man who saved her, protected her over and over, the hand of the man who loved her enough to be there when she returned, the first thing she had glimpsed at her return. She laced her fingers into his.

"I thought about you every day, and especially on new moon nights," she said, not meeting his eyes, her voice small and distant. "I missed you so much, but I was so frightened, InuYasha. I didn't know how exhausted and frightened by the battle I was until I was home. I tried to get through the well, but when I did, it didn't let me through." She sighed. "I had nightmares a long time."

He rested his chin on her head. "I'm sorry."

She leaned back into his chest. "Don't be sorry, InuYasha. If it hadn't been for you, I wouldn't have made it out of there, or made the wish that destroyed the jewel. But it all left me feeling so empty. When I was trapped in the darkness, before you showed up and I thought I was all alone, the jewel showed me a vision, the world it was offering me. Friends and school and family. In the vision I had, I always knew something was missing, but I didn't know what. I was going to school and doing things with my friends, but something wasn't quite right. There was an emptiness in my life that spoiled everything. It wasn't until I was walking by the sacred tree that I knew what was missing - it was you."

Kagome straightened up to look at InuYasha then, her eyes damp and shimmering in the firelight. "The jewel was trying to trick me into choosing that life, for wishing for it - all the things I thought I wanted once upon a time. It's funny, really, that after I returned, that was the life I lived - school and friends and family. But it wasn't the life I needed any more. I had grown too far apart from my friends. My family, they loved me, but really didn't understand what I had been through. There was always this empty place inside me, but this time I knew what was missing. I had changed and done too much to really belong. And I was living in a world without InuYasha."

It hurt him to hear the pain in her voice. "Kagome," he said, softly, searching for something to say, to take that hurt away. He couldn't find the words, so he did what he knew to do, pulling her tightly into the circle of his arms.

She sighed as his arms wrapped around her and the fabric of his sleeves blanketed her and leaned her cheek against his chest. "This feels right, doesn't it?" she said.

"More than right," he said, not making any moves to let her loose until a piece of wood in the fire pit loudly popped, exploding with a spray of sparks. Both InuYasha and Kagome turned to look, and she began to giggle.

"Oi, woman, what's so funny?" the hanyou asked. He unwound his arms reluctantly from around her to lean over towards the fire pit. Poking at the burning wood with a stick, he stirred it, and looked back over his shoulder. "Well?"

"It made me think of fireworks," Kagome said, smiling. "Our own private fireworks for our own private celebration."

"After all we've been through, we deserve some fireworks," InuYasha said, amused. "Today's the first thing I wanted to celebrate in a long time."


	3. Chapter 3

_I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi_

**Chapter 3**

InuYasha gave the flames one final stir, then put down the fire stick, returning to his place next to Kagome. She leaned back against his shoulder.

"We really do have something to celebrate," she said. "I still I don't know why it was today, and not all the other days I walked into the well, searching for the magic in it but not finding it. I guess the well must have known I was finally ready. I finished my schooling last week. That world now considers me an adult. Everything I had to do as a child of my family was done. Maybe the magic read my heart and knew now was the time."

She pulled his hand into her lap, resting her much smaller hand on his. "It wasn't the first time I'd walk to the well house and just stare down into the darkness there. I'd talk to you, tell you about how I missed you and all the little things that were happening in my life. But today was different. I could feel it when I walked into the building. There was something in the air. As I looked at the well, it seemed to me that the reason I could never get back to you was my fault - I was too afraid. I was afraid of the darkness, of all the danger we had gone through, afraid maybe of growing up and leaving my family. Maybe I was afraid you wouldn't want to be with me any more."

InuYasha gave her hand a little squeeze. "Feh. No chance of that ever happening."

Kagome looked up at him, at the honest sincerity in his amber eyes, and smiled, giving his hand a squeeze back. "That's a good thing, because next I found myself wishing, wishing as hard as I could, to be with you again. I could feel the magic, faint at first, but then it grew, reaching up to touch me. When I finally looked into the well, I could see the sky here, and I knew I was being given a chance. Mama followed me into the well house. She saw the sky too, and knew what I wanted to do. She gave me her blessing, and then I jumped. When I landed, I looked up, and the first thing I saw was you. I knew I was home. This world, not that one, is where I belong."

InuYasha's amber eyes glistened with emotion as his listened to her. He struggled to say something. "I can't say what that means to me," he said at last, lifting her chin up with one finger. "I just don't have enough words. I've missed you so much. Life was so hard without you."

He bent over slightly, pulling her to him as his lips found hers. The kiss began, gently and tentatively, and a bit unsure, but built up heat as he pulled her closer, cupping the back of her head. Their mouths opened to the taste of each other.

Her arms had wrapped around his neck, under the satin of his hair, pressing herself lightly against him, and he was loathe to let go once the kiss had ended. Instead, he rested his forehead against hers.

"I wanted to do that when I pulled you out of the well, but the others showed up too soon," he said, giving her a crooked, sheepish grin.

Kagome brushed her fingers over his lips. "Better now," she said. "Nobody will interrupt us."

"No little brother," he said, gently kissing her forehead. "No kitsune. No teasing monk."

"Nobody else." Her hand went to his cheek, brushing the skin with the back of her knuckles, then slid softly to return through his silver hair to its place around his neck. "Just you and me."

Their mouths found each other again. Her lips parted as his kiss deepened, and their tongues slid over and around each other in a gentle, delicious dance, exploring and tasting.

Breaking the kiss, InuYasha tucked Kagome's head back under his chin and wrapped an arm around her. She could hear his heartbeat racing as he worked to even out his breath. After a moment, he spoke.

"When I finally broke out of the jewel and saw you there, floating in that blackness, I knew what really mattered to me." His voice was soft, but rough, as if it were hard for him to talk. "Power didn't matter. Strength didn't matter. Just you. Only you."

He picked up her hand, still holding her closely. "I just wanted you to be safe and happy. When I saw you fall into your mother's arms, surrounded by the people who loved you, I knew you needed them, and they needed you, and I didn't even fight it when the well took me back. All that mattered to me was that you were safe and had a chance to be happy."

"I'm happy now," Kagome said, lacing her fingers into his. "The first time I've really been happy in a long time."

"Me too," he said. "But even though I let you go, I always hoped - no, I knew that we weren't done. Kaede thought we were, that you'd never be able to make it back. But I knew differently. After I followed you into the Meidou, I found myself trapped in the jewel, fighting the youkai in it. They tried to tell me that you were born to stay there forever in it, to fight through all time with Naraku, just like Midoriko was fighting against the youkai there. I told them that there was no way in hell that was true. We had been born to meet each other, to be with each other." He gave her hand a small squeeze. "While you were on the other side of the well, that was what kept me going, knowing we were meant to be together. I would have waited forever." He moved so he could smile at her. "But I'm glad we didn't have to wait any longer than we did."

"InuYasha," she whispered. Their lips met again, tender, lingering.

Kagome snuggled back against InuYasha's shoulder. They sat there, wrapped up together for several minutes, watching the fire, not speaking, just pleased to be there. InuYasha's free hand made long, gentle strokes over Kagome's arm and back, almost as if were reassuring himself she was really there.

"I'm afraid," he said, breaking the silence. "I'm afraid that all this is going to turn out to be a dream and when I wake up in the morning, you'll still be on the other side of the well."

"I'm here," she said. She turned to face him. His right ear twitched, like it always did when he was tense. His eyes, though, glimmered in the firelight, dark burnished amber, filled with longing. "I'll only leave if you send me away."

"Never. Never again, even if I think it's for your own good. It's going to be hard enough just to take you back to Kaede's for the night." He smiled a rueful, wistful smile.

"Then don't," Kagome said. She ran a fingertip gently over his lips. He caught her hand, and kissed the fingertips. "I didn't come back to stay with Kaede." She lifted her other hand and slid it around his neck. "I want to be with you. Tonight. Always."

"With me," he repeated. It sounded like a question. His eyes grew wide as it dawned on him what she meant.

She nodded.

"Kagome," he breathed, and his mouth reclaimed hers, this time hungry and unrestrained in his want of her. As the kiss deepened, and turned into more than one, they ended up laying down, InuYasha half on top of her. Suddenly, he stilled as if he had realized something, then lifted himself up on his elbows.

Amber eyes searched her face, his look intense and serious. "You do know if you stay, everyone in the village will call you InuYasha's wife. The hanyou's wife. Some people aren't going to like it. It's never easy when a human chooses a youkai as their partner. There won't be any going back. Be sure you're ready for this, Koibito. If you're not, let me take you back to Kaede's. As much as I want to be with you, I'll understand."

Kagome smiled at him and shook her head. "I traveled nearly five hundred years in time to be here with you," Kagome said. She reached up and brushed a finger across his lips, then slipped her hand across the side of his face where a human's ears would be, slipping her fingers into his hair. Her eyes were warm and dark and wanting. "I don't know if I could even go back if I wanted to. But that doesn't matter. Let them say whatever they want to say. Call me the hanyou's wife? That's exactly what I want to be. What I came here to be. InuYasha's wife."


	4. Chapter 4

_I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi_

  
  


**Chapter 4**

  
  


Again, a piece of wood popped in the fire pit, cascading sparks. InuYasha's ear flicked at the sound, but neither of the two on the floor nearby looked up this time.

"Wife," he whispered, then let his lips brush across hers. "Kagome wants to be InuYasha's wife," he said in an awed tone.

The intensity of feelings in his eyes, want and hope, love and need, was almost too much for Kagome to take. She nodded, not quite able to speak. Burying his head in the crook of her neck, he breathed warmly against the soft skin there, giving her goose bumps. "I've wanted to be Kagome's husband for so long," he murmured.

She moaned softly at the sensation. His mouth found hers again, desperately trying to pour all that she meant to him into that kiss. One arm wrapped under her neck, cradling her head; the other explored the length of her body with long, gentle strokes, eventually finding his way under the bottom hem of her blouse. She arched up to him as his hand explored the soft velvet of her back.

"The things you do to me, woman. I need you," he said, raising himself up on one elbow. "I need you like I need air. I need to feel your skin next to mine and taste you everywhere. I want to drown myself in your smell and, wrap myself around you. Is that wrong?"

"No, InuYasha," she said, letting her hands brush the neckline of his kosode and slip under the fabric to touch his warm, bronzed skin. "It's not wrong at all. I need that too. It's what husbands and wives do."

Wrapping both arms around her, he lifted her up to stand. "Show me what you need," he said, his voice shaky.

Kagome nodded. "Take me to bed, husband, and we'll learn together."

He said nothing, but kissed her quickly and untangled himself from her to walk across the small room, and grab the folded bedding, unrolling it not too far from the fire pit. Next, he laid Tessaiga down, putting it where it would be in easy reach. After that he knelt down to smooth the futon out and spread a blue cover over it.

"You have a futon?" Kagome asked, kneeling down next to him, helping him smooth the cover out. She was surprised at the touch of luxury before her. Futons were not yet everyday furnishings. And they were expensive. She had spent more than one night sleeping on the floor in her earlier days in InuYasha's time.

"Yeah," he said a little sheepishly as they finished. "I haven't used it much. I guess you could say it was a sign of me hoping you would be here to use it. I...I didn't want you to have to sleep on the ground." He blushed a little at the admission.

She rested a hand on his, and smiled. "I'm here," she said. "Thank you."

"Yeah." Rising to his knees, he pulled her up to him. "You really are here. I'm glad I did it."

His hands slid under her blouse, exploring the warm curves only somewhat hidden by the garment. It wasn't enough for her. She backed away just enough to pull the garment up and over her head, and then reached back and unfastened the clasp to her bra. He watched her, not sure of what to do, but she smiled shyly at him, nodding. His hands shook a little as he reached out and slid the straps down her arms and revealed her breasts with their rosy peaks.

"You are so beautiful," InuYasha said. Watching her with both appreciation and wonder, he pulled the garment all the way off, and laid it on top of her blouse.

Kagome took one of his hands in hers, brought it to her breast and said, "You can touch, you know."

For a moment, he stared at what he was doing, weighing the soft warmth of her breast in his hand. His thumb brushed across her nipple, and she gasped, closing her eyes for a moment. Suddenly, he crushed her to him, his mouth desperately seeking her lips, then trailing wet kisses down her neck. Her fingers sought the ties to his jacket. He pulled back when he realized what she was doing, and shrugged out of his suikan and kosode.

"I've always wanted to do this," she murmured, running her fingers over his golden skin. "To touch you without needing to bandage you." Her hands slid from the tops of his shoulders, across the muscles of his arms, to trace the outline of his chest. He shivered at the touch, his eyes closing as she explored.

Kissing him on the cheek, Kagome stood up, unfastened the waistband of her skirt, and let it pool to the floor. He looked up into her eyes. They looked down on him, warm and loving and wanton as the scent of her desire swirled around him. His hands reached up, tracing the outline of her waist and hips, and slipped into the waistband of her panties, and began to pull them down. She nodded to encourage him, then, as he wrapped an arm around her to support her, stepped carefully out of the garment. After he added the garments to the pile with the others, he rose up, letting his hands coast along the length of her legs and up to her waist. Her hands went to the bow of his obi and loosened it while he wrapped his arms around her, drinking deeply from her mouth, tasting the salty warm of her skin, feeling her melt against him. Lifting her up, he laid her on the futon, and made quick work of his hakama and fundoshi, then slipped into the bed next to her.

Slowly and gently, they explored each other's bodies through touch and taste, the air filling with the music of gasps and moans and murmured words of love, growing ever closer to that moment when they would be one. Unknown to them, and unseen or unseeable by most eyes, the little house began to glow as youki and reiki began a dance of their own, weaving in and out, reflecting the union going on in their hearts and bodies.

This spiritual fireworks of red and pink light did not go unnoticed, though.

Kaede sitting by her fire felt it first, snapping her head up. She almost dropped the cup of tea she was drinking as it first brushed across her senses, but then a smile touched her lips when she realized what she was feeling, and what it must mean.

Rin, sitting next to her, looked up from the herbs she was sorting. "Is there something wrong, Kaede-sama?" she asked.

"No, nothing, child. Nothing to worry about." She took another sip of her tea. "No, it's something quite good, I think. We'll find out for sure tomorrow, though."

Too softly to be heard by anyone else, she said, "I wondered how long it was going to take them."

Much further away, Toutousai looked up from his forge. Suddenly he shuddered

"Damn." He looked around the bony, fume-filled room he used as a workplace. "Hey, Myouga, where are you?"

The old flea youkai yawned, peeking out of the old smith's topknot. "I'm here. What's wrong?"

"Something's up with the pup. Tessaiga's all excited. I can tell from here. You need to go check him out. It's been too quiet since Naraku died. Maybe we'll get something interesting to do."

The flea yawned again. "Ah, the life of a flea. Do this, do that. Can it wait until the morning? I have a headache."

"Yeah, yeah. That's what you get for visiting the teashops again. Tomorrow will do." He chuckled as the old flea groused then went back to sleep. "I didn't know the pup had it in him," he said, looking down the edge of the blade he was working on. "Wonder if that pretty girl he was mooning over showed back up?"

Miroku might have noticed, being rather in tune to his friend's youki, but he was quite busy himself at the moment, taking advantage of sleeping children and a willing wife.

But two others noticed as well.

Outside of the small house, light cascaded around the Goshinboku as a long, shimmering form stepped out of the tree. Not very far away, another being of light arose out of the well. Diaphanous, and hard to spot for even those with spiritual gifts, the two of them walked together and linked hands and moved toward the house as they watched the light around the hut gather in intensity.

"You were right," the kami from the well said. The figure, seemingly female, moved a bit closer, and let her voluminous sleeve of brilliant blue figured silk brush against the light. A cascade of violet sparks ensued. "It didn't take them long at all."

"Well, I did hold him next to me for fifty years," said the figure from the tree, seemingly male, dressed in resplendent russet and green. "It gave me a certain perspective."

"I thought they might be too shy around each other," the spirit of the well admitted. "They were always so circumspect around each other before, never stepping over the boundaries of propriety, even when they could have."

"That's the hanyou's sense of honor," he said. "And perhaps it was because she was rather young and not ready to cross that bridge. But you should have been able to feel his heart and seen the red thread that tied them together. Look how often he came and sat by you."

"She did, too. That's why I agreed, really, when you asked me to open the path." She touched the light emitted from the house again, just briefly. The light around the house shuddered, changed ever so slightly as the red intensified and began to dominate the pink.

"I wouldn't do too much of that if I were you," said the tree spirit. "You don't really want youki to overwhelm reiki; he doesn't want to devour her soul."

"No. But do you want her reiki to overwhelm his youki? He might get purified," she said. "You know how he feels about being human."

"Here, let me," he said, and reaching out a hand, a sound like wind through leaves wrapped around the house. Slowly, the dance of color grew at once calmer and more expanded, settling down into a brilliant rose, perfectly balanced in color, dancing now only in time to their joining.

"You always had a defter hand than I," said the spirit of the well.

"They deserve it," the tree spirit said. "The heroes of that story have earned their happy ending."

"How long will it last?" she asked.

"Oh, quite awhile, I suspect. Never bonded a hanyou and a miko before. But his youki and her reiki will work together, supporting each other. Maybe as long as I'm around." He smiled at her.

"That, my dear one, is a long, long time," she replied, smiling back. "I wonder how long they will take to realize it?"

The tree spirit shrugged. "Oh, a decade or two, I suspect. Still, I don't think it will bother them, though, once they get used to the idea."

"I suppose you are right. It would be interesting to see." She waved her fan, and watched.

Suddenly the light built into its largest crescendo yet. It was echoed by voices calling out from within the house. The light disappeared.

She sighed. "Well, it's done."

"And I suspect," said the spirit of the tree, "Our part of their story is done as well."

"Perhaps," she said. "At least until her fifteenth birthday."

"Ah, yes, the joy of time paradox." He let her hand go.

The night was suddenly calm and silent. With a last coy look at her friend, the spirit of the well dissolved and melted into a streak of light retreating to her place of slumber.

"Live well, children," said the spirit of the tree, and a moment later, he too was gone.

Unaware of all the attention being paid to them, InuYasha, his silver hair spilling behind him, lay there holding Kagome in his arms, in a way he had only dreamed of before, her head pillowed on one arm, his free arm making slow, lazy strokes down the soft warmth of her back. The reality of what had just happened when she gave herself to him, about the way his life had just been changed forever, was just beginning to wash over him.

She looked up at him with sleepy, content, happy eyes, and brushed a finger across his lips. "You look so far away," she murmured.

"Just thinking about last night," he said.

"Last night?" She sat up, surprised.

He smiled at her, kissed her lightly, and pulled her back down into his embrace. "Last night, I just felt trapped, all my thoughts crowding in on me. I couldn't stay here any longer. I went on a run, up towards the mountains, until I found a place where the sky looked like it went on forever. I sat down, looking at all the stars. Just me and the night sky, alone in the dark. I was wondering if it was my fate to always be alone like that."

He rested his cheek on the top of her head. "I guess what happened today answers that question."

"Like the answer?" she asked, wrapping her arm around him and pulling him closer.

"Yeah, I do." He reached down and pulled the cover over them both. "Very much so."

Snuggling her close to him, he listened to her breathing, and felt how perfectly her body fit next to his, and slowly drifted to sleep, amazed at the difference one single day could make.


	5. Chapter 5

_I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi_

  
  


**Chapter 5**

  
  


He woke up as the first morning light filtered into the room.

It didn't happen all at once. InuYasha's ears twitched first, taking the sounds in around him, and then his nose woke up. Something in the air was different. Not bad at all, in fact very good, but he knew it was not what he expected to scent. He felt warm and comfortable and unexpectedly content. Memories of the night before suddenly flooded into his mind as he grew alert. He opened to see a pale shoulder and black hair cascading around it, and he realized he was spooning a warm body close to him, his hand wrapped protectively across her middle.

"She's really here," he whispered, a touch of amazement in his voice. "She came back to me."

For a long time he just lay there, breathing in the sweet scent of the woman in his arms, a scent now blended together with the fragrance of their union, watching the light grow brighter as the morning deepened. A smile touched his lips as he admired how their hair, silver and black, fell intertwined together across the bedding. He could feel the heat pooling in his middle as images from the night before crossed his mind and he found himself moving his hand across the softness of her tummy, and up to the swell of her breast, enjoying the satin of her skin and the delight of how it felt to be able to hold her like that. She stirred a little, and he nuzzled the crook of her neck, and planted little kisses on the top of her shoulder. In response, she snuggled closer.

InuYasha kissed the lobe of her ear, and Kagome rolled onto her back, still mostly asleep, eyes fully closed. He studied how the light touched the planes of her face, the line of her eyebrow, the shape of her lips, the relaxed contentment she radiated. He planted a light kiss on her forehead. It was enough to just lie there, enjoying how everything that mattered in his life had changed since yesterday morning. Then suddenly, he sighed deeply, having realized something, and propped himself up on one elbow. "Kagome," he said softly.

"Mm . . . InuYasha, " she said.

"Good morning, Koibito." He pulled back the hair covering her ear and neck, touched his tongue to the shell of her ear. She jerked a little at the sensation.

Trying to pull away and move her ear out of his reach, she grumbled and wrinkled her nose. "Tickles."

"You need to wake up, Kagome. They're going to come looking for us soon if we don't show up somewhere. We have to get to Kaede's or Miroku's."

She rolled over onto her stomach. "Don't want to."

InuYasha pulled back the blanket and gave the tops of her shoulder little kisses. "Oi, woman - did you forget what a tease and hentai Miroku is? Just cause he's married hasn't changed his sense of humor any. You want him to find you in bed like this?"

Kagome grabbed the blanket back, but sat up, holding the cloth around her. Looking at InuYasha with sleepy eyes, she smiled a crooked grin at him. "He'd tease us all day, and maybe all week."

"You know it," InuYasha said, returning her smile. "Maybe for a month."

She reached out, and touched him gently on the cheek. Her smile got very large. "Good morning, InuYasha. What a good thing to wake up to find that I'm really here. That you're really here." She leaned over and kissed him lightly on the lips, then pulled away, bringing the covers up almost to her chin. "It's cold in here."

InuYasha sat all the way up and reached over her for his fundoshi that sat on the stack of clothes they made the previous night. "A little cool, but I doubt we'll be back for a while, so I didn't want to start a fire. Hurry up and get dressed. There's nothing for breakfast in this house."

Staying wrapped up in the quilt, she reached over to the pile of clothes and fished hers out of the stack. InuYasha stood up to get dressed. Kagome turned away at first, blushing at seeing the sunlight touch his lean, golden body, but snuck glances at him as he wrapped himself in his undergarment then walked around the futon to pick up the rest of his clothes. He moved with an easy grace on muscled runner's legs. Not for the first time, she wished he didn't hide them in the baggy red hakama that made them so hard to appreciate.

Smiling at her silliness, she stood up and let the blanket drop as he was fastening the ties of his hakama. It amused her to see InuYasha's eyes grow big and his cheeks color as well. Then she turned her back, slipped into her under things, and put on her skirt.

"If we hurry," he said, shrugging into his suikan, "maybe we can get breakfast at Kaede's before she starts her morning work."

"Kaede? I'm sure she'll feed us, but why go there? Why not go to Sango's? She's closer." Kagome picked up her shirt and pulled it over her head, and then began dragging her fingers through her hair, trying to give it some semblance of order.

"I don't know if I'm ready to deal with Miroku," InuYasha admitted, tying his obi. "Hells, I'm not sure if I'm ready to deal with Kaede, but at least she's not a tease."

She frowned. "You're . . . you're not ashamed of us, are you?"

InuYasha sighed, stepped to where Kagome stood biting on her lower lip, and wrapped his arms around her. "Never. Never. Don't ever think that." He kissed the top of her head, and then tenderly on the lips. "Remember what I told you last night? About how it's never easy when a human takes a youkai partner? It won't be any easier because I'm a hanyou."

"You're afraid Kaede will disapprove?" she said. His face was very serious, and his ear was twitching, always signs he was stressed and wasn't sure what to do next. "I can't believe that."

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I don't think so. But I'm not so sure what will happen when the news gets out."

He let her go and bent down to pick up his sword. As he tucked it into his obi, she rested a hand on his arm. "Whatever happens, we can deal with it, InuYasha."

"Keh." He walked over to the entry way, and picked up Kagome's sweater and handed it to her. Although his eyes were still solemn, he smiled for her. "If we're lucky, she'll have some soup left. That is if Shippou didn't show up and eat it all."

She laughed, and put on her shoes and together, they left the house.

Very few villagers were out along the street by the old miko's house when Kagome and InuYasha walked up, only a few children who gave them a curious glance, but then returned to their games. The bamboo mat lifted up right before they reached it, and the old miko stepped out, looking at the young couple with an amused grin.

"Well, children, come in. I've been expecting you," Kaede said. "Although I must say, I really was expecting to see you last night. But I'm not totally surprised I didn't."

Kagome blushed, and for a moment, was fascinated by the toe of her shoe, then decided she was being childish and smiled at the older woman. "I'm sorry, obaachan. We had a change of plans. I hope we didn't cause you any trouble."

InuYasha squared his shoulders and shoved his hands into his sleeves. Glancing up at him, Kagome thought he looked almost as wound up as he did when he went into battle.

"No, no, child. It's all right. Come inside. I suspect you two are hungry. I've got soup on the fire." She turned and went back in.

"It's going to be all right, InuYasha," Kagome said, very quietly. "And you're going to get your soup."

"Feh," he said, and held the door open for Kagome.

She stepped into the entryway of the house that had so many memories for her, and slipped off her shoes. The air smelled of smoke and herbs, miso soup and rice. The walls were lined, just like she remembered, with chests and jugs, storage jars and all the things of everyday life of a village miko and healer. Kaede had already taken her place by the fire pit, and was ladling soup out into bowls for the two of them.

InuYasha sat down next to the older woman, and motioned for Kagome to sit next to him, as if he needed to shield her from Kaede with his body. She settled down where he asked.

Kaede handed a bowl of soup to the hanyou, and raised an eyebrow when he in turn handed it to Kagome. Then she passed them bowls of rice.

"Where's Rin?" the younger woman asked.

"Ah, I sent her to keep Sango company while Miroku does his business with Chiya-sama," Kaede said. "Sometimes, taking care of the twins and Naoya is more than one person can do."

"Or sometimes, there are things you don't want her to hear," InuYasha said, sipping his soup.

"Blunt as ever, InuYasha. Yes, or that. Especially when it's time to talk to a nervous hanyou who's afraid I'll tell him something he doesn't want to hear." She looked at him steady with her one eye, but there was a small smile she didn't quite hide.

He stared into his bowl, then took another sip. "You knew we were coming here?"

"I suspected as much." Instead of eating, Kaede sipped a cup of tea. "I knew you would either show up here, or at Miroku's. Somehow, I'm of the feeling you'd rather see me than him."

"Keh," he said, then drank his soup down.

Kagome hid her smile, then sipped from her bowl. It tasted of miso and fish and kombu and something extra she knew Kaede put in her soup, but wasn't quite sure what it was. But sipping it flooded her with memories of the last time she sat here, drinking soup in the morning. That was right before the final battle with Naraku. Miroku and Rin were laying in their sickbeds. "So much has happened since the last time we did this."

"Indeed it has, Kagome-chan," the older miko said. "I must say that I was surprised to see that the magic let you come back. I was afraid your time here was done."

"So was I," she replied. "I don't think it will let me go back anymore, though. The well must have decided I belong in this world instead of the other."

"I suppose," Kaede said, chuckling, "that the kami who controls the well knew you had something more important in this world than that."

"I do," Kagome replied. She looked at InuYasha.

He met her eyes and stopped eating. A soft smile touched his face. They stayed like that for a long moment, before breaking their gaze and suddenly returning to their breakfast, which they quickly finished.

After the last bite was eaten, Kaede put down her teacup. "InuYasha, Kagome, we must talk." She filled tea cups for Kagome and InuYasha and passed them down. Kagome, returning the favor, refilled Kaede's cup.

Suddenly, all the tension InuYasha carried coming to the miko's house returned, and he stiffened, but taking a deep breath, he took Kagome's hand and rested his on top of hers. "Kagome is under my protection, Kaede-baba. I have taken her for my wife."

The old miko gave him a reassuring smile. "Good, good. I had no doubt that was going to happen, InuYasha. If not last night, I knew it would only be a matter of a few days to come. If the kami are kind enough to let her return to you after all your devotion to her, who am I to say anything against such a match?"

InuYasha visibly relaxed at the miko's words, and Kagome gave his hand a little squeeze.

Kaede poked at the fire in the pit while she thought about what she needed to say next. "Most of the villagers are now comfortable with you being here, InuYasha. They approve how you avenged my sister, now that they know the truth of what happened. They've seen what you've done since and how you work to keep the village safe. They will not forget how you fought against the bandits last year."

"Bandits?" Kagome asked.

"I'll tell you later," he said.

"Still," Kaede said, "There are always some who may try to make trouble, especially with you taking a bride, and which bride it is. Don't think you don't have friends, though. My cousin Tameo, the headman is pleased to have you staying here, and his family is the largest one and has the most influence on what happens in this village." She sipped her tea. "Still, not everyone is so inclined. There's Tsuneo's family. Tsuneo's wife, Haname, lost her father to a youkai attack many years ago and has a strong hatred of them. All of them. She uses the damage that Naraku did to the village as a reason why she thinks the village elders should chase you away." She sipped her tea once again. "She is a bitter, unhappy woman. And her daughter Chiya isn't much better."

"Chiya?" Kagome asked. "She was always nice to me. Isn't that who Miroku was going to talk with today?"

"Keh." InuYasha said. "She's nice to you cause of Kikyou. She's nice to Miroku cause she's trying to go to Amida's heaven when she dies. But you haven't seen the looks she's given me when you weren't around."

"I didn't know," she said, touching his arm. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault." He shrugged, then covered her hand with his. "Chiya's brother Joben's no better. I've heard what he says when he thinks I can't hear him."

Kaede nodded. "If there's trouble, it will come from that quarter, I believe." She finished her tea. "I will talk to my cousin today and tell him the news. He, as well as I, expected this turn of events. We will figure out what to do." She stood up. "InuYasha, come here and help me with this."

Together they walked to the corner over the house. Kaede stopped by a wooden tub covered with a bright piece of cloth. "Take this to your house."

InuYasha picked it up. "What is it?"

"Useful things," she answered. "Congratulations, you two. Now go home. Stay out of the village for the next day or two. I'll come see you after I talk to Tameo-sama."

They headed for the door, and Kagome held open the door mat while InuYasha walked through it.

"I am glad you are back, Kagome-chan," Kaede said before the younger woman stepped out. "I still remember the first time both of you sat down around my fire. That day, I never would have expected this day." She smiled. "He's changed so much since then."

"He has, hasn't he?" Kagome smiled. "I'm glad I'm back, too. I missed all of you so much."

"But especially him."

Kagome nodded. "But especially him."

"Go be with your husband, girl. It will all work out. If the kami brought you back, it's meant to be." Kaede took the door mat from Kagome's hand.

"Yes it is. Thank you." Giving Kaede a beautific smile, she bowed to the older woman, and went out to join InuYasha.


	6. Chapter 6

_I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi_

  
  


**Chapter 6**

  
  


There was an ambush set up when they got back to the house.

"Dammit. I knew I couldn't get even one day away from them," InuYasha said. He stopped in his tracks, shifted the tub from his right shoulder to his left, and started to growl. Catching himself, he stopped, and sighed instead. It didn't stop his ear from twitching, though.

"Who? What's wrong?" Kagome asked, making a mental note that she needed to get a bow and some good arrows as soon as possible.

"Look!" he said, pointing towards the clearing.

Miroku, Sango, Shippou, and the children were there, sitting in front of his house. Miroku had his back to the wall, with his staff propped next to the door. Sango was feeding baby Naoya. Shippou was entertaining the twins with his toys while trying to keep the twins away from his tail. The kitsune noticed them first, his head jerking up just before he came bounding toward them.

"There they are!" he yelled. InuYasha deftly caught him by the tail as he made a leap towards Kagome.

"What are you doing, runt?" the hanyou demanded.

"I was worried!" the kitsune said, looking at InuYasha with as much ire as InuYasha returned. "You didn't stay with Miroku. You didn't spend the night at Kaede's."

"You think I can't take care of Kagome? Or myself?" InuYasha asked. He dropped the kit on the ground.

Shippou rolled to his feet, rubbing his head, then jumped into Kagome's arms. Crossing his arms in a very InuYasha-esque manner, he asked, "Where were you?"

Kagome ruffed the kit's hair, and smiled at the boy. "We spent the night at InuYasha's house, Shippou-chan, and then we went to Kaede-obaachan's for breakfast. We were perfectly fine all night," she said. "I thought you were going to play with Chiya-sama's daughters today."

"I thought so too, but she sent them to their grandmother's house. It was boring." He looked at the tub InuYasha was carrying. "What you got there?"

"Kaede-baaba sent it," InuYasha said.

"That's funny. Miroku brought some stuff, too. Why is everybody giving you things?"

"It's for good luck," Kagome said, and looked up at the hanyou standing next to her. "And because I'm going to be living with InuYasha and came back without anything."

Shippou's eyes got big. "You're going to live with him? Like Sango lives with Miroku?"

Kagome laughed. "Yes, Shippou-chan. I came back to live with InuYasha."

"Hope you're not making a mistake," the kitsune said, "but I'm glad you're here!" and seeing InuYasha's hand clench into a fist, he jumped out of Kagome's arms and scuttled back to rescue his toys from the twins. The girls, surrounded by the kitsune's playthings, were too busy trying to figure out how to make the top spin like Shippou did that they didn't even look at the newcomers.

"Ah, the missing ones return," Miroku said, standing up.

"We were at Kaede-baaba's, if it's any of your business, Bouzu," InuYasha said.

"We must have been walking circles around you today then," Miroku smiled. "I stopped by her place this morning, but you weren't there. And hadn't been there since yesterday afternoon."

Sango put Naoya over her shoulder and patted his back until he gave a loud burp. "Stop that, Miroku, " she said, handing the baby to him. "We brought you some things, Kagome." She got up and picked up a cloth wrapped package.

InuYasha walked into the house while Sango and Kagome began talking, and put the tub down near the edge of the raised wooden floor, then went to the far side of the room, sat down and leaned up against the wall. One of the twins shrieked the way children will do, and Shippou yelled at whomever it was to let go of his tail. For some reason, this made the hanyou grin, until the door mat lifted and Miroku walked in.

InuYasha said nothing, but stuffed his hands into his sleeves. When Miroku came and sat down next to him, he didn't meet the monk's eyes. For a moment, neither of them spoke.

"You've been a hard man to find," Miroku said at last. "Busy, were you?"

The hanyou's right ear twitched, and just a hint of color touched his cheeks even as he scowled. "What's it to you, Bouzu?"

Miroku chuckled. "I will tell you that contrary to my reputation and what some would think of me, I resisted all anxious female and kitsune nudges to go looking for you when I found out that you weren't at Kaede's last night, but alas, after breakfast and my meeting with Tsuneo's daughter, the female anxiety won out." He reached in the sleeve of his robe and took out a small bundle. "At least you got to have breakfast in peace."

"Keh," InuYasha said. He stretched out one of his legs, and his ear swivelled as Kagome laughed at something Sango said.

"It's good to hear Kagome's voice again. Sango missed her almost as much as you did. For all of her many virtues, my lovely wife does not make female friends easily. And the women of the village don't quite know what to make of a woman who is a warrior and who married a monk."

InuYasha looked at him then, cocking his head to one side. "I . . . I didn't realize that."

"She wouldn't have mentioned it. Women do things differently than we men do."

"Yeah." InuYasha looked towards the front of the house, as if he could see through the wall.

"Come back, Noriko," he heard Kagome say. "You can't climb the tree to get to Shippou."

"You two spent the night here, I assume," Miroku said.

InuYasha nodded.

"I can't promise I'll be able to resist all urges to tease, but even I will admit that some things should be just between a man and his bride," the monk said, weighing the pouch he had in one hand.

The hanyou looked away. The touch of blush on his cheeks deepened a little.

Miroku watched his friend a moment, and raised an eyebrow. "You did take her for your bride, right? I'm sure you're the reason the magic worked and let her come back."

"You ask too many damn questions, Bouzu." InuYasha's ear twitched, and he began to make a fist.

"You know I approve, don't you?" Miroku said. "How could I not? My good and honorable friends have just been gifted with an amazing turn of events. If you come by the temple, I'll even do a formal blessing if you want."

InuYasha met his friend's eyes then, studied Miroku's face and relaxed at what he saw there - honest sincerity. "Though why she wanted to give up everything to be with me . . . " He sighed. "My head's still spinning. Everything's changed so fast."

"Amazing how that can happen," Miroku said.

Outside, Sango and Kagome laughed again, rising above the giggles of the two small girls.

Miroku stood up. "Well, my friend, this is just a first step in how your life is going to change. I suspect the women are already plotting things, like how to furnish this empty house of yours."

InuYasha looked around the sparsely furnished room. "Never needed anything else," he said as he gracefully got to his feet.

"If you're going to be a husband, you're going to find out you suddenly need all sorts of things you never thought you did," Miroku said sagely. "Why do you think I charge those who can afford it so much for our services?"

"Probably don't want me to answer that," InuYasha replied.

Miroku laughed, and pressed the pouch he had been holding into his friend's hand. "Here. This will help."

"What . . ." InuYasha said, looking at the object.

"Open it," Miroku said, with the faintest touch of a smirk on his lips.

As InuYasha untied the strings holding it closed, Miroku said, "In the three years we've been working together as youkai exterminators, you never would take your fair share of the profits. I've been putting what you wouldn't take on the side, just in case."

"Miroku," the hanyou said, looking at the coins in the bag. It was a sizable sum.

"You're going to need it, take my word for it." He met his friend's eyes, which had a shining, dazed look. "You think your head is spinning now, just wait."

He moved towards the door. "With luck, once all the dust settles, we'll get another exorcism request. We family men, we have our expenses."


	7. Chapter 7

_I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi_

  
  


**Chapter 7**

  
  


Saying their goodbyes to Kagome outside, Sango and Miroku left, taking Shippou with them, with a promise to return later that day to share dinner in the little house. She walked back inside, slipped off her shoes, then noticed InuYasha just sitting there, staring at a pouch he was holding in his hands. He looked lost in thought.

"Well they're gone," she said as she tucked her shoes away, "although they'll be back later. Sango said she'd bring dinner here. We were thinking that tomorrow morning you and I'll go over there, and she'll give me a cooking lesson. I never learned to cook much besides campfire food on a fire pit."

InuYasha didn't look up or say anything, although his ear flicked at her voice.

She walked across the floor and sat down by him. "If that's all right with you."

"Huh. Oh, yeah," he said, snapping out of his daze. "Sounds good."

"What did you and Miroku talk about?" she asked.

"He was telling me about how Sango has been having trouble fitting in with the other women here in the village." InuYasha looked up at her. "Is that true?"

Kagome tilted her head to one side, and considered his question. "Maybe. Sango wasn't raised like most women are around here. She learned to fight when other women were learning other things. They probably don't have a lot in common. You're not the only one here who's different."

"Keh," he said. "We're all a bunch of misfits. Probably why we all get along so well. It's a good thing you're back, though, not just for me. She needs a friend."

She leaned her head against his shoulder. "And me, too. What do you have there?" she asked, as he tossed the pouch between his hands.

"This?" He handed it to her, and she opened it.

"Money?" she said. "It looks like a lot."

"It is." He took it back from her and tucked it into his jacket. "Friends are funny. All this time I was working with Miroku doing youkai exterminations, I only took enough out of the fees he charged to do what I needed. He tried at first to make me take half, but I wouldn't. I figured he had a family and needed it more. And maybe I felt a little guilty about him charging what he does sometimes." He looked at Kagome. "I found out today that he'd been saving the difference. Thought I might be needing it some day."

Kagome's eyebrows lifted at that. "Friends do surprising things for each other. And Miroku is your friend." She rested her hand on his.

"Yeah, he is." He stood up. "Let's see what Kaede-baaba sent over."

They moved over to the other side of the room. After uncovering it, InuYasha picked up a rather plain pottery jug with a stopper. He unstopped it and made a face and almost sneezed. "Vinegar," he said, and handed it to Kagome.

She pulled out a smaller jar and opened it. "Tea!" she said.

InuYasha picked up a small piece of cloth. Three needles were stuck in it. "Kaede-baba thinks a lot of you. Needles aren't cheap," he said, and handed it to her.

"Or maybe the both of us," she said, then pulled out a packet that contained dried kombu. "Oh my," she said.

"Kombu?" he asked. "What's so special about dried kelp?"

"Where I grew up, kombu was given to wish many children on a couple," Kagome replied, smiling. InuYasha blushed a little, then pulled out a package that smelled of fish. "Dried fish?"

"For making soup," she said.

There was a length of thread wrapped around a stick of wood, a package of sweet-smelling herbs good for putting away with clothes, a bucket, a length of rope and several pieces of linen.

"Now we can get started," Kagome said. She picked up the rope and the bucket.

"Get started doing what?" he asked as she handed the rope and bucket to him.

"We need a clothes line to air out the futons, and I need some water," she said.

Before he knew what had happened, InuYasha found himself pounding fresh-cut saplings into the ground for a make-do laundry line. While he was occupied with that, Kagome changed clothes.

When he walked back in with the water, what he saw was a small woman in a beige kosode, sitting in a pool of light from the window. She had a blue wrap skirt tied around her waist, and her sleeves were tied back so she could work. Her hair was covered by a white head scarf. She sat there humming to herself as she folded her other clothes to put away. She could have passed for any farm wife in the village.

InuYasha put the bucket of water down and went to sit next to her. Reaching out, he tucked a piece of hair that had escaped from her scarf back behind her ear. "You look . . . different," he managed to say.

"Sango gave me the clothes," Kagome said, chewing her lip, and dropping her eyes, suddenly self-conscious. "Do they look all right?"

He smiled, leaning forward until his forehead touched hers. "Yeah. You look nice, like you belong here."

"Good," she replied, smiling. "That's the way I want it always to be. I want to look like I belong here with you, because I do."

InuYasha slid an arm around her waist and cupped her cheek with his other hand. His right ear twitched as his eyes, intense and warm, searched hers, which looked back at him, blue-gray, calm and happy. He struggled to say something. "Damn it, woman. I don't have the words."

He kissed her, gently, tenderly, lips lightly dancing over hers, then coming up for air, he stroked her cheek with his thumb. "I don't know if I'll ever have the words. How can I tell you what it means to me that you're here? That you want to be here? That you gave up so much."

Kagome kissed him back. "I didn't lose anything. I came back to the place I'm supposed to be, the place that feels like home."

InuYasha smiled, but sighed. "I don't know anything about being a. . . . a husband. I barely know how to be a friend. I'm walking around in a daze today because everything's changed so fast. If I act stupid or don't say the right thing, it doesn't mean anything."

"I know," she said, resting her hand on his. "Now help me move the futon and quilt outside. They could use a good airing. Then we can move the chest and other things out, too, and open the door. The house can use a good airing, too. I'd like to mop the floor before the twins get here. It's pretty dusty."

"I...I didn't stay here a lot," he said.

She began to fold the futon up. "I bet you stay here more now."

He took it from her hands, and stood up. "Yeah, I bet I do."

Grabbing the quilt, she laughed, and followed him out of the house


	8. Chapter 8

_I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi_

  
  


**Chapter 8**

  
  


It didn't take long before there was a neat pile of belongings in the front of the house, the chest, the low table, and all the other loose bits that had rested on the wooden floor. The futon and quilt hung were airing out on the line not too far from the back of the house. The door mat was rolled up and the window was unshuttered. It spoke of change and industry, but most importantly to InuYasha, of a woman's touch.

"Never would have thought of doing all this," he said to himself as he carried an armful of chopped wood into the house to add to the wood cradle. Even filling up the wood cradle instead of leaving more than a handful on the rick outside was a change of rhythm.

When he stepped over the threshold he stopped for a moment and just looked. Kagome was on her hands and knees mopping the floor, her backside to him. The air smelled of vinegar and springtime. He watched her dip her rag into the water, wring it out and swirl the cloth over the floor in steady circles. In the light he could see how small the house was, and every flaw in the walls and floor. As he looked, he considered what he had brought her to, scrubbing floors in borrowed clothes of peasant linen, and remembered his mother in her robes of silk and with her attendants. His ear twitched at the thought that Kagome, whom he loved every bit as much as his mother, should be doing that type of work for his house, and yet he couldn't deny she seemed perfectly content with what she was doing. She began humming, then singing softly.

"Why does the crow caw  
flying over the mountain,  
kawaii, kawaii  
hear her calling," she sang. It was a pretty tune, the type children sing when they play.

"Crows," InuYasha said, "They're not always so cute. What about that crow youki who led to the jewel being shattered in the first place?"

She turned around and smiled at him, blowing a strand of hair that had escaped from her scarf away from her nose. It fell back into place, and she sat up, and tucked it back into her scarf.

"It certainly changed our lives forever, didn't it, trying to fly away over the mountain like that," she said. "Today would have never happened if that crow hadn't tried to take the jewel, so maybe we should be grateful."

"Maybe," he said, giving her an uncertain smile.

Like all houses in the area, the raised wooden floor of the house was fronted with a wide area of beaten earth that was used for storage and other things. He moved across it to where the wood cradle rested. It only had a couple of armfuls of wood in it yet. Carefully, he began to stack the wood up for later, taking pains not to get any bit of bark or splinters on the raised platform.

As he worked, someone knocked on the door frame, and two young women peered into the room. They were pretty girls, giggling as they looked in. Both were around Kagome's age. The older wore a kosode in light blue and a wrap skirt that moved from light to dark blue, with a pattern of red flowers printed on it, the other a similar garment in a pale orange, both dressed better than many of the other girls in the village.

"Kagome-chan?" the older of the two said.

"Kaede-obachan said you were staying here," said the younger. "So we had to come see. We didn't get a chance to talk to you yesterday."

Kagome dropped her mop cloth. "Erime? Tama?" she asked.

InuYasha placed the last piece of wood in the cradle. "Yeah. That's who it is." He turned to the girls. "Your dad let you get this far out of the village? Takeshi must be getting soft."

"Oh no, InuYasha-sama," Erime said, as she and her sister bowed. "Is it all right that we are here? Hisa-obachan told us Kagome-chan was staying here, Tameo-ojisan thought it was a good idea, and Kaede-obachan told us the way."

"It'll be all right long as you cut out that sama shit." He stuck his arms in his sleeves, looking at them rather lordly in spite of himself. Tama covered her face with her hand, trying to suppress a giggle.

"We can't, InuYasha-sama." Erime said, bowing again. "If our father or uncle heard us talk that way, they would lock us in the cow shed all night, so sorry."

"Feh," he replied, and headed back outside.

Kagome made her way to the entry way where the two girls were standing. Back during the wild year of the Shikon quest, they had been acquaintances who enjoyed a few good moments, and if there had been more time, they would have become friends. Wiping her hands clean with a towel, she bowed a greeting and smiled at both of them.

"Is it true?" Erime asked.

"You're staying and going to be InuYasha-sama's wife?" Tama asked.

Kagome smiled at them and nodded.

"Congratulations! I was hoping you'd get to come back," Erime said. "Hisa-obachan sent this to help you get settled down." She handed Kagome a basket filled with food.

"Tell your aunt thank you very much," Kagome said. "It was very kind of her."

"We will." Erime looked around the little house, and saw the mop bucket and the stacks of things outside. "She always did like you, and Uncle does, too. I guess we should let you get back to your work. I didn't realize you'd be cleaning up today."

"I didn't either," Kagome replied. "But I guess there's a lot to do when you want to get settled in."

"Mother always says that men can find a lot for women to do even when they're not trying to," Erime said. Tama gave her a little nudge. Erime frowned, and Tama giggled.

"You'll be finding out if that's true, soon enough," Tama said. She turned back to Kagome. "O, you must come and visit when you get caught up. We've got so much to talk about! Erime's getting married, too. You'll have to hear all about it!"

Erime blushed a little, and nodded.

"You can come back, too, you know," Kagome said. "Now I won't be running off all over the place anymore. We'll have more time to talk."

Erime pulled her sister back towards the door. "We will. We're glad you're back, Kagome-chan. Come soon. We'll have tea!"

The girls bowed and left, giggling between themselves. InuYasha walked back in, shaking his head. "That's something I didn't expect."

Kagome sat down on the edge of the raised floor. "Me either. It's a good sign, I think."

"I hope so," InuYasha said. Finding the bucket they used for drinking water, he dipped up a ladle full and drank. "I'll be outside working until you're ready to move the furniture back in."

Soon, Kagome could hear the sound of wood being chopped. She went back to her mopping, humming her song.

Those were not their only visitors. Two other women from the village stopped by in the early afternoon, also bringing gifts of food, but the most interesting visit from InuYasha's point of view was when Daitaro, the elderly owner of the best stud bull in the village came by, bearing a jug of saké. His animal was notorious for escaping from its pen, and InuYasha had helped round it up more than once when it made off.

Daitaro, his silver hair pulled back neatly into a tea whisk topknot, showed up right as they were beginning to move things back inside. For a moment, he stood next to InuYasha and watched Kagome with a sharp eye moving in and out of the house, carrying out her mop water, retrieving her quilt, and noticing how InuYasha's eyes followed her every move.

"Take good care of her," the old man said, shoving the saké into the hanyou's hand. "You're a fool if you don't." And then, as quietly as he had arrived, he left, leaving the dazed hanyou looking down at the jug as he went on about his way.

For some reason, that, more than any of the visits by the village women, made the hanyou begin to believe that maybe, just maybe, the village would accept them. Clinging to that unexpected feeling of acceptance, he grabbed the futon off the clothesline, and carried it and the saké into the house.


	9. Chapter 9

_I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi_

  
  


**Chapter 9**

  
  


InuYasha's little house seemed crowded with four adults, two toddlers, and a kitsune, but it was a comfortable crowd, the type that only good friends enjoy. Dinner was over, Sango's stew pot empty and the dishes were washed and put away, but no one was really ready to leave yet.

"Tell us a story, Kagome," Shippou asked. He was sitting in her lap, ignoring the looks InuYasha was sending his way. "Do you know any stories about kitsunes?"

"Maybe," she said. "But why don't we get Miroku to tell us one? I know he knows more stories than I do."

"I could tell the story about the kitsune and the tanuki," Miroku volunteered.

"No way. That may be Hachi's favorite story, but I don't want to hear how a tanuki tricked a kitsune into getting beaten up," Shippou said.

"Ah, but it's true purpose is to remind you not to be impious and to teach you that knowledge is better than trickery," the monk said. "This is a lesson you need to learn before you try to tease Kaede-sama again."

"Not my fault she can see through fox magic," Shippou said, rubbing his head.

"Maybe when you learn to hide your youki better, or your tail," Miroku replied. "Until then, it's probably a good idea not to try to impersonate people around her. Wisdom over trickery." He picked up his daughter Noriko, and put her on his lap before she could move towards the irritated hanyou, who was in no mood to have his ears tugged.

"What happens in the story about the kitsune and the tanuki?" Kagome asked. "I don't think I know that one."

Shippou, gave them both a disgruntled look and went off to sit by himself.

"Ah, a kitsune and a tanuki decided to have a contest to see who had the best magic. This kitsune was rather unrespecting of the Buddha." Miroku began. Lifting up his cup, he took a small sip of tea. Noriko used this opportunity to wiggle out of her father's lap.

"The kitsune knew that the tanuki had an interesting habit. Whenever he would see an image of Jizo-sama, who especially watches over children and travelers, he would get hungry, stop and take a break to eat. So the kitsune, running to a place where he knew the tanuki would be passing, went and turned himself into a statue of Jizo. It was very realistic. When the tanuki passed by, he saw the image, and said, 'Hmm . . . I'm hungry. Time to eat.'"

"Even Hachi isn't that stupid," InuYasha mumbled.

"Oh yeah?" Shippou said. "Look who he has for a friend."

Miroku, ignoring them, continued. "The tanuki sat down, took out some rice balls. He offered one to Jizo-sama and bowed his head. When he looked up, the rice ball was gone. He got confused, wondering if he had even put it there. So he put out another one, bowed his head, prayed 'Namu Amida Butsu,' and raised his head right away. The rice ball was also gone. He put out a third rice ball, but this time, he lifted his head before the prayer was through. What he saw was this: the statue of Jizo-sama was standing there with a half-eaten rice ball in its hand. The tanuki yelled 'Hey!' and grabbed the arm. Suddenly, the statue turned back into the kitsune's usual form. The fox smiled up at the tanuki and said, 'Now it's your turn.'"

Noriko made her way to Kagome's lap.

"Now we reach the part about wisdom," Miroku said. The other twin, Yusuko saw where her sister was, and began toddling that way. "The tanuki was unhappy about how the kitsune tricked him, and so he thought a moment. 'About noon tomorrow, I'm going to change into the lord from the castle and come by this road. Be sure to be here and watch.'

"The kitsune was there waiting the next day, waiting to see. Finally the procession reached his hiding place. First, there came the sweepers yelling 'Down! Everybody down!' Next came a long line of samurai, and then finally, the palanquin in which the lord was riding. It was all very impressive and majestic. The fox was amazed at his friend's skill, and ran over to the lord's basket.

"'Tanuki-sama! Tanuki-sama!' he called, 'You have beaten me. This is amazing.' But this was not a transformation by the tanuki at all; it was the real thing. He knew the lord was going to be going this way. One of the samurai carrying a staff came over to the kitsune. The kitsune was beaten indeed. He never tried to steal the tanuki's rice again."

"Stupid story," Shippou said.

Yusuko tried to squeeze into Kagome's lap next to her sister.

"Getting kind of crowded there, girl," InuYasha said. He picked her up and put her in his lap, wiggling his ears at her when she started to pout.

"Inu-oji," she said, laughing. He delicately caught her arm when she tried to use his hair as a ladder to climb up towards his head.

"Doggie uncle?" Kagome asked. "They call you that?"

The hanyou shrugged.

"Shippou-chan," Kagome said, watching the little kitsune turn his back to everybody, still irritated. "My grandfather used to tell me a story where kitsunes used tricks that taught wisdom, too."

He peeked over his shoulder at her.

"You want to hear it?"

"Does it have tanuki in it?" he asked, moving closer.

"Not this one. But it has monks and samurai." Noriko, unhappy that her sister was in InuYasha's lap, wiggled out of Kagome's handhold, and moved closer to InuYasha.

"Why don't you tell it, Kagome-chan?" Sango said, as she lay her sleeping son Naoya on the small blanket she had spread out next to her. He barely moved as she put him down.

"Yes, please, Kagome-sama," Miroku said. He poured more tea in her cup. "Always good to hear new stories."

"I guess I will, then." She reached over and filled the monk's tea cup in return, and then her husband's. Picking her cup up, she took a sip, and began.

"Once there was a man who was really very simple and uninformed, so his neighbors called him Kashikoi-sama," she said. "For some reason, he began to believe he was as smart as his nickname of Wise One and began talking and giving his opinions about everything like he really knew what he was talking about."

"It's lucky that some of us actually do know what we're talking about, isn't it, Sango my beloved," Miroku said.

Yusuko shrieked at that moment because Noriko decided to pull her hair. Miroku got up and picked her up and secured her in his lap. Yusuko abandoned InuYasha and went to her mother, who soothingly rubbed her head.

Once things had quieted down, Kagome continued.

"One day, he and some friends had come together for a celebration. While they were drinking sake and eating, somehow or other, the talk got around to kitsune."

Yusuko took that moment to begin toddling towards the young kitsune, snagged at the last moment by Sango who realized what she was doing. "Shippou!" the girl cried, holding her arms out to him. Shippou jumped on InuYasha's shoulder.

"You like living dangerously, don't you?" InuYasha said. There was no real threat in his voice.

"Better you than her," Shippou said, holding his tail defensively.

Kagome shot looks at both of them, but continued her story. "Now on this occasion, Kashikoi had drunk a lot of saké, and it made him even more opinionated than normal. After hearing several stories about people being fooled or frightened by kitsune in their area, he declared that only the foolish or easily led could ever let a fox do that to them. Wise and intelligent people like himself could never be tricked that way. In fact, he declared, he doubted kitsune did much of this type of thing. Most people, he said, who thought they had been in a run-in with a fox probably had just scared themselves.

"The other people at the celebration just shook their heads, because Kashikoi was always declaring this or that. They didn't want bad luck on their hands and were about to ask him to leave. His friend Takeo tried to talk sense to him. 'You shouldn't talk that way!' he said. 'We know of at least twenty people who had been tricked in one place alone. Are you saying they all were men who fooled themselves or were weak, or someone human tricked them?'

"'Yes,' Kashikoi told him. 'That's exactly what I'm saying. And to prove it, I'll go out there tonight!'

"'Well, let's make it worth your while. You come back with no fox tale to tell us, and we'll buy you five jugs of saké. But if anything happens, you have to do the same for us,' Takeo said. Their friends roundly agreed. It would get rid of him, give them some peace and quiet, and if Inari was merciful, they'd get something to drink out of the whole thing. Soon all six of them stood up, and with much loud noise and rude singing, they got torches and escorted their friend out into the night and towards the place the kitsune liked."

Shippou snickered. "He was kind of stupid, wasn't he?"

"And I suppose you're thinking about pranks you would pull on him right now, aren't you, brat?" InuYasha said.

"I was thinking what the guys at the last youjutsu exam would have done to him," Shippou said. He jumped off InuYasha's shoulder and landed next to the fire pit. "First, they'd - "

"Shippou-chan," said Kagome, looking at the kit. "Can I keep telling the story?"

"Oh," he said, sitting down. "I'm sorry."

"Anyway," Kagome said, "Kashikoi's friends took him there, and Takeo announced loudly, 'Hey, Kitsune-samas, we have someone who doesn't believe in you here. We have five jugs of saké that say you'll show him what you can do. Don't let us down!' And laughing, they all walked off."

"Some friends," Sango muttered. Naoya began to wake up and she let Yusuko loose to take care of him, putting the baby over her shoulder.

"The first thing Kashikoi noticed once his friends left him was a rustle in a nearby stand of bamboo. Looking carefully, he saw a fox dart into the bamboo, and he went to investigate. Not seeing anything more, he walked down the road where he saw the wife of the village headman. 'Why, hello, Kashikoi-sama! How unexpected to see you out here tonight. I am just going to go visit my father in the village. Will you walk with me?'

"Suddenly, Kashikoi became suspicious that a fox was trying to deceive him. He knew that there was no way the village headman would let his wife walk between villages after dark. While agreeing to walk with her, he began to look for telltale signs of fox magic, like the tip of a tail showing at the bottom of her kosode, or if her clothing seemed to glow in the dark, but for the life of him, he saw nothing. Yet he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Still, he tried to be civil and agreed to walk with her.

"They eventually reached her parents' house, but just as her father and mother came out to greet them, he took a knife out of his belt and said, 'Stand back! I know this girl is not your daughter, but a fox out to trick us all!' While her parents watched in horror and tried to pull him away, he tortured her, trying to get her to reveal her true form, and when that didn't work, he used the flame from his lantern to set her dress on fire. 'Mother! Father!' she cried, but there was nothing they could do, and she died."

Yusuko, finally realizing she was free of her mother's hand, chose just that moment to crawl over to pull Shippou's tail, and he shrieked.

"Yusuko, leave Shippou-kun alone!" Sango ordered.

Shippou jumped on Miroku's shoulder.

"Got caught up in the story, eh?" Miroku said.

Shippou crossed his arms. "Feh," he said, in an odd imitation of InuYasha. "You need to teach Yusuko that my tail's not a toy."

Kagome laughed. "You should have seen the look on your face, Shippou-chan!"

"Well, what happens next?" InuYasha said.

She nudged him with her elbow. "Let me see . . . Someone got a big stick and hit Kashikoi over the head and he fell unconscious. When he awoke, he was tied up, and a fierce looking samurai was standing over him.

"'You must die for your murder!' said the samurai. 'I am going off to tell my master and also her husband what has happened. Expect the worst!'

"'But I could have sworn she was a fox!' he cried. 'I saw the fox. Why would the headman let his wife wander around after nightfall?'

"'Our poor daughter! Whatever shall we tell her husband?' cried the parents.

"A Buddhist priest came by, attended by a young boy and a servant. Hearing all the noise, he asked what the problem was. A servant led him in to where the parents and the official were, and he heard their tale of woe. He turned to the unfortunate man. 'Why Kashikoi, is that you?' he asked. 'I thought you were a good man. You always had a donation for me.'

"'Yes, Dono, it is I. I thought I saw a fox turn into this poor woman and I killed her. But I really thought it was a fox out to trick me! If you can do something to save my life, I would do anything.'

"'Well then, let me talk with the family,' the priest said, then took the others away into the back and had a conference. Kashikoi stayed still, trembling, not daring yet to hope. After a few minutes, the priest came back to him.

"'Well, Kashikoi, you have one chance,' said the priest. 'You can shave your head and become my disciple right now, or the Samurai-sama will take you to be tried and executed.'

"'Yes, do it right now,' said the girl's father. 'He was trying to protect us, even though it was an evil fate.'

"' Do you agree?' said the priest.

"Kashikoi, speechless at this turn of events, just nodded his head. The priest untied him, had him kneel in like he was praying, and began to shave his head while he chanted. After the ceremony was done, Kashikoi stood up and bowed deeply to the priest. At that moment, he heard a loud burst of laughter and the sun broke over the horizon. When he stood up, he was alone. Everything that happened during the night felt like a bad dream. Reaching up to the top of his head, though, he knew it wasn't a saké dream, because he had no hair. The foxes had fooled him after all."

"Yes!" said Shippou. "That's the way top ranked kitsune do things! That would have gotten great marks on the exam."

"Hmm," said Miroku. "So what became of Kashikoi?"

"They say he went back to his friends," said Kagome. "He covered his head with a handkerchief, and told them the tale of what happened, and at the right moment, revealed what the foxes had done. Although his friends laughed at him, he paid his debt without complaining. Afterwards it is said he became a monk of great holiness who went out of his way to be compassionate to those who thought they had all the answers, but didn't. And he always remembered to do acts of kindness to the foxes who put him on the right path. Or so my grandfather told me."

"Hn," InuYasha said. "You would think he'd be mad at them, instead."

"Well, many are the paths that lead to enlightenment, my friend," Miroku said, looking thoughtful. He glanced down at the sleepy child in his arms, looked at Sango, who tilted her head towards the door. He gave her a little nod in return. "I think, though, it's time that we leave you two alone and put our children to bed. Thank you for the story, Kagome-sama."

"Can I stay here tonight?" Shippou asked. InuYasha's eyes narrowed, his hand reaching out to clasp Kagome's.

"Remember what we talked about this afternoon, Shippou?" Sango said.

The fox kit sighed. "I forgot." He jumped off of Miroku's shoulders and crawled into Kagome's lap. "I'll see you tomorrow, Kagome."

She gave the kit a little smile then ruffled his hair. "Sure thing, Shippou-chan."

Sango stood up, and handed off the sleeping Naoya to Miroku, grabbing Yusuko by the hand. "Remember to come over early if you want your cooking lesson."

Kagome smiled, getting up herself. "That would be good. I really don't know how to cook well in a fire pit. We did it a different way at my mother's house."

Bidding her friends goodbye, she let down the mat door and fastened it shut.


	10. Chapter 10

_I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi_

  
  


**Chapter 10**

  
  


After closing the door, Kagome stepped back up on the raised floor, and got a drink of water from the water bucket. "I think I'm tired," she said, lifting the ladle up and taking a long drink. "I love them all, but sometimes, it's nice after everybody leaves, too."

Bending down, she picked up a stray tea cup and straightened a floor mat, then moved back to where InuYasha was sitting.

InuYasha's ear twitched in her direction, and he nodded slightly, but didn't say anything. While she washed up the tea dishes, he poked at the fire, knocking the coals around so as the wood burned down, the flames would die down but continue to give off heat. Although he had tried to hide it, he had been wanting everybody to hurry up and leave shortly after everybody had finished eating. But now the room that seemed too crowded a few minutes ago felt almost too large. Now instead of a busy group of friends, it was just him and Kagome, and they were alone again for the second night of their new life. The enormity of what it meant was crashing down on him once again, and he felt overwhelmed, almost too much to move. She sat down next to him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"You seem far away. I'm sure you're not thinking about the story I told, right?" she said. She picked up and twirled a lock of his hair around one of her fingers.

"No," he said, uncrossing his arms and wrapping one arm around her waist. "Already knew what kitsune were like."

Kagome snuggled closer and let her hand rest on his thigh. He looked down and stared at it. "So what are you thinking about?"

He swallowed. "Everything."

"Everything is a big subject." She watched the fire as her fingers began to draw patterns on his leg.

"Yeah." His free hand found hers, stilling it as he closed his fingers around it. He gave it a little squeeze, but didn't say anything else.

She turned to look at him a moment, then rested her head back on his shoulder. "You can tell me about it, you know."

They sat there quietly for a few minutes while he struggled to find the words he wanted to say.

"I feel like my head's spinning," he said at last. "Today, people stopped by to congratulate us instead of chasing us away. Today, people came to my house to sit around the fire and eat and tell stories, like at a real dinner party. Old man Daitaro even left us a jug of saké. Usually people are scared to death if I even touch saké, like they think I'll turn into a monster if I take a sip. He left a whole jug. Stuff like this doesn't happen in my world."

"Evidently it does now," Kagome said. She sat up and kissed him lightly on the lips, and then stood up and walked across the room. He watched her, how her black hair was highlighted by the dying firelight, how her garments swayed as she moved. With grace, she went to where she had stowed their bedding and rolled it out. Watching her stirred him.

Not looking at him, she unfastened the clothes that Sango had given her, first the blue and white wrap skirt with its bold print. Folding it, she placed it on the clothes chest. As she unfastened the obi of her beige kosode, InuYasha stood up, his right ear twitching nervously, still feeling unsure, but strangely, empowered at the same time. He took his sword out of his belt. Rolling her shoulders first, Kagome slipped out of the dress, wearing only her thin white undergarment. He padded up silently behind her, laid his sword down next to the chest, and then wrapped his arms around her.

The touch of her warm in his arms pushed him over some threshold, surging to drown out all the apprehension and doubts. "Life is never going to be way it was before yesterday, is it?" he said, brushing her hair to one side, exposing her neck. Breathing in her scent, he closed his eyes, letting his mouth graze her skin there, planting small kisses.

She relaxed into his hold, closing her eyes at his touch and tilting her neck to the side to give him better access. "No. Never. And I never want it to."

His hands slid over the soft fabric of her under kosode."Me either." His voice was husky, and soft and tickled her ear. "You think you can deal with it?"

She trembled lightly as he cupped her breasts through the thin cloth. "If you can." Her hands slid down behind her, trailing the sides of his thighs.

He pulled the neckline of her kosode open some to give his lips better access to the base of her throat, then slipped a hand beneath the white cloth. She gasped lightly as he ran the pad of his thumb across her nipple while his hand wrapped around the soft, warm mound.

"I guess I could get used to it," he said. His breath teased as his tongue traced the outline of her ear. "Some parts of it are very, very good."

"You haven't eaten my cooking yet," she said, managing to pull away enough to turn around and face him. "I remember how you used to talk about my cooking." Her eyes were dark and heavy lidded. Her smile challenged him, inviting him to come play.

His arms accepted the challenge, and moved, it seemed, on their own accord, pulling her close. His mouth found hers and devoured her hungrily. "Don't care," he said. "We'll eat Sango's cooking until you learn."

Cupping the back of her head, he deepened this kiss, his tongue dancing with hers until her knees grew weak. She broke for air, and pulled back to move her hands to his chest, even as he whined a little at the separation. Smiling, she unfastened the ties to his suikan.

"Time to get undressed," she said.

Not taking his eyes off of her, he stepped back one step and hurriedly removed his suikan and kosode and dropped then on the chest. Smiling at him, she knelt down by the edge of the futon, and unfastened the obi to her under kosode, then slid it slowly over her shoulders, revealing creamy skin and soft curves.

"Woman," he groaned. He struggled with the knot to his hakama as he watched her fold her undergarment in the dim light. Her pale skin contrasted with the blackness of her hair cascading down her back. As she turned back to face him, he focused on one lock of hair that strayed curling across her shoulder, accentuating the line of her throat, coming to rest at the top of one of her breasts. Suddenly, all he wanted to do was trace that piece of hair with his finger, with his tongue. He watched it, unmoving, mesmerized.

She broke his chain of thought by moving to fold the coverlet back and then sliding under it. Taking a deep breath, he finished undressing and slid into bed next to her. "Kagome," he whispered as he wrapped his arms around her, half leaning over her.

"How about this? Do you think you could get used to this?" she asked. Her arms circled his neck, losing themselves in the silver of his hair, pulling him nearer.

"Damn it, yes," he said. His mouth found hers, again demanding and needy, and she opened her lips to him in ready surrender. "And never get enough."

He kissed a line of fiery kisses down her throat and down to the white skin of her bosom as he ground himself against her thigh. She closed her eyes, arched her neck back and moaned, and spread her legs for him.

As he ran his finger along the wonderfully soft skin he found there, she opened her eyes and gave him the sultriest of smiles. "Welcome to your new world, InuYasha."

He decided, as they became one again, he liked this new world he was discovering very much.


	11. Chapter 11

_I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi_

**Chapter 11**

"Welcome to your new world, Kagome," Kagome said to herself as she got dressed.

She knelt down by an open chest, dressed only in a white under kosode as she pulled out the clothes she was going to wear for the day. Laying at the bottom of the chest was her sweater and short skirt, carefully folded. Her blouse and modern underclothes rested in a basket, waiting to be laundered until they too could be put away. She gave a fond touch to her sweater, laid her spare garments on top of it and then closed the wooden box. The clothes she was going to wear today made a simple outfit, an outer kosode of light blue fabric, and a long wraparound skirt in beige with blue flowers printed on it. The clothes of a housewife.

She stood up to slip on the kosode. "I'm glad it's so much easier to wear these things than kimono back home. No pads, less to tie," she said as she smoothed the front of the kosode closed. It only came to mid-calf. The cloth, made of hemp linen, wasn't quite as soft as the cotton and modern fabrics she was used to wearing, and it felt strange in some ways after years of short skirts to be wearing something that brushed against her legs. Next, she picked up the wrap skirt and wrapped the garment around her waist. It kept her kosode closed, helped her avoid accidently exposing herself, and even functioned as an apron. Almost all the housewives she'd ever seen wore them, as did most of the farm wives not actively working in the fields. As she struggled to tie the knot behind her, the cords were taken out of her hands.

"Let me," InuYasha said, finishing the bow. Letting go of the bow's tails, he in turn wrapped his arms around her.

"I didn't hear you come in," Kagome said, leaning back into his chest. She rested her hands on his arms.

"I was quiet," he replied. "Doesn't take long to hang out a futon, you know." His breath was warm against her neck, and she shivered, not in a bad way. His arms pulled her in closer. "You about ready?"

She nodded, grabbed a large square of darker blue cloth and tied it so it covered her head and kept the hair out of her eyes. Spinning around, she stepped back and held out her arms. "So, how do I look?"

InuYasha watched her, saw how she chewed on her bottom lip, waiting for his approval. She could have passed for almost any young woman in the village. "Just right," he replied. "Like you really belong here. I like those colors on you."

It was the correct answer, and her face lit up. "You think?" she said.

He stepped forward, pulled her back into his arms. "I know." He kissed her chastely on the lips. "My little village woman who is so much more."

Laughing, Kagome reached up, and kissed him back. "I always want to belong here with you. Now I just hope my cooking doesn't chase you away."

Unexpectedly, his eyes grew intense and serious. "Never," he replied. His arms tightened around her. "That's the last thing I could think of that would ever get me to leave."

Kagome took a deep breath looking at the smolder in his amber eyes, and their honest sincerity, and felt something stirring inside that she needed to get under control. Reaching up, she brushed his cheek.

He gave her a chaste kiss. "Now can we go to Miroku's? You're supposed to help Sango fix breakfast, remember? I'm hungry. And Sango makes good morning soup."

"Sango make good soup? I remember when you used to hate her cooking," Kagome said.

"Well, she's had a lot of practice in three years. I think Kaede and some of the other women felt sorry for Miroku and taught her some stuff. Be nice if you learn how she does it."

Laughing, she nodded. He moved to the door as she slipped on her shoes, and held the door mat open as she walked out of the house.

Not long after that, Kagome and InuYasha sat in Sango's house.

InuYasha leaned against the wall, well away from Sango's kitchen area. Both women stood in front of a shelf and wash basin opposite the front door, washing greens and slicing vegetables. Right after he settled down there, Sango had handed him her son, and now he found himself playing with the boy while keeping half an eye on the two women. Little Naoya, even as young as he was, found the hanyou's silver hair and ears as fascinating as his sisters did. He gurgled as he chewed his fist and watched the hanyou wiggle his ears at him. Luckily for the two of them, the twins still rested in the sleeping room, and the baby seemed to enjoy having InuYasha all to himself.

The door slid open and Miroku walked in, fresh from his morning devotions at the nearby chapel he liked to call a temple. InuYasha wrinkled his nose, smelling the incense. It wasn't enough to make him sneeze, but it wasn't one of his favorite smells either. "Good thing you don't have my nose, kid," he said to the baby. "I don't know how you'd make it growing up here, your dad coming in every morning smelling like that."

Miroku snorted at that, then sat down on the raised wooden floor to take off his sandals. He looked at the two women hovering over their work. "Ah, what a lovely sight," he said as he tucked his sandals into their place.

Kagome started to turn around, but Sango shook her head. "Don't encourage him," she said.

Shrugging, Miroku walked over to his seat by the fire pit. Looking at InuYasha, the monk said, "We must be very lucky, friend, to have two such beautiful women cooking for us this morning."

InuYasha looked over at Kagome. A smile touched his face. "Keh." He watched the women work until Naoya tugged on a strand of his hair and he bent over to rescue it. "You raising this brat of yours to be a fighter?"

Miroku laughed. "I thought he'd follow in his father's footsteps and be a monk. Maybe he's destined to be a warrior monk."

Kagome, turning around, held a length of early spring greens in her hand. "Maybe you only think you're lucky, Miroku-sama," she said and grinned sheepishly. "After you taste how I fix it, maybe you won't think you're so lucky after all. My mother taught me to cook, but the kitchen at her home was so much different. I'm not sure if I really know how to cook here."

"Ah," Miroku said. "But I'm sure my friend here will be happy to eat any ohitashi you make, even if I don't. Right, InuYasha?"

InuYasha looked up, smiled at Kagome, but glared at his friend after she turned around.

"Don't be such a tease, Miroku," Sango said as she fished a piece of pickled radish out of the pickle barrel. She quickly rinsed it off and began slicing it.

"Who, me?" he asked, with his best innocent face. He got up and walked over to where Sango was working. "Whatever gave you the idea I was a tease?"

She slapped at his fingers as he reached over to take a slice of the pickle she was preparing, but he was too quick for her and closed his hand over his prize even as her hand hit his.

"I don't think you really want me to give you an answer," she said, shooing him away.

Munching on his trophy, Miroku walked across the room and sat down next to InuYasha. Naoya, seeing his father, began to fuss, and an uncertain InuYasha was happy to hand him over to the monk.

"You need to go find something to do, husband," Sango said. "We'll call you when breakfast is ready."

"What do you want me to do?" the monk asked his wife. Naoya grabbed one of his father's fingers as he waved them in front of the small boy.

Sango frowned and thought for a moment. "You and InuYasha can take Naoya outside. The girls are still sleeping, and I don't want him waking them up until they've had enough sleep."

He nodded, and stood up. InuYasha looked inquiringly at Kagome, and she smiled to reassure him and nodded.

With a last silly grin, Miroku said, "Come, men. Let's leave the women to their mysteries before they bring the wrath of the kitchen kami upon our heads. Then what would we do for breakfast? Enjoy yourselves, beautiful women."

InuYasha snorted and headed out of the house. Sango scowled at her husband as he slid the door closed, and then both she and Kagome broke out with the giggles.

"I don't know why I'm so nervous," Kagome said.

Brushing a stray lock of hair off of her face and out of the way, she turned around and looked at the fire pit, from where the wood was burning down into coals, and then looked up at the ceiling above the fire pit to where the heavy wooden support for the pot hook was attached. There was a wicker basket stuffed with straw hanging up there with skewers of fish stuck in it to catch the smoke from the fire. Thinking about her mother's house and how the kitchen was laid out, she sighed. She knew all the people of this village and everywhere she had gone in Japan cooked over open fires like this, but thinking about how she and her mother cooked at home, she felt very uncertain.

"I never really paid much attention to how Kaede cooked on the fire pit when I was here before," she said finally. "I know how to cook trail food over a campfire, but cooking in a house like this just feels . . . so different."

Sango smiled at her friend, and patted her hand. "I'm sure you'll do fine. Is it really that much different where you come from, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked.

"Yes," Kagome said, putting the last of the greens into a bowl. "More than you can imagine."

"Well, you've already done the hardest parts. You came across five hundred years of time, found InuYasha and started your new life. Learning to cook in my kitchen has to be the easiest part of it all," Sango said.

Kagome turned to face her friend. "You know, you're right," she said with a smile. "So teach me how you make your soup, and once I learn what I need to know, I'll teach you some things my mother taught me."

"That sounds like a good plan," Sango said, and together, they carried bowls of food to the fire pit to begin cooking the meal.

Outside, the two men looked for a place to sit down and wait.

"So," Miroku said, carrying his son in the crook of his arm, "Five days from today is Market Day. Have you started putting together a list of things you're going to get yet?"

He settled himself in a warm spot of sunshine in front of his house. The air, although springlike, was still fairly cool, and he made sure Naoya was well bundled in his blanket.

InuYasha shook his head, sitting down near his friend. "We barely know what we have, much less what we need yet. I never used the house for much more than a place to duck out of the rain." He picked up a blade of grass. "Kagome's already talking about gardens and storage rooms and clotheslines and all this other stuff."

"Women are like that. Funny, when we were traveling, I needed so little. Now it's cloth and salt and needles and bowls and sweets and who knows what else."

"Keh," InuYasha said, "I know. Carried it home enough times for you."

"And now you'll have to carry your own load home. Talk it over with Sango and Kagome together. She'll help. I suspect Kagome might not have much experience running a house."

"Yeah," the hanyou said, twirling the grass stem. "Yeah, everything's way different where she comes from. We both have a lot to learn."

"It's good to learn together," the monk said.

InuYasha smiled, a peaceful look Miroku hadn't seen on his friend's face very often. "Yeah."

They sat there quietly for a while, playing with the baby until he fell asleep. Not long after, the door to the house slid open and two small bundles of energy ran down the verandah to where the two men sat.

"Daddy!"

"Inu-oji!"

Miroku caught Yusuko as she slammed into his lap. Noriko, two steps behind, almost bumped into her sleeping brother. InuYasha grabbed her to put her in his lap.

"Inu-oji?" she asked.

"Don't want to wake up Naoya, right?" he asked.

She shook her head no.

"Well, girls," Miroku said, "You finally got up?"

Both girls looked like they just woke up, each still in her sleeping robe, but there was not a trace of sleepiness left in either of them.

Noriko nodded. "Mama say come!"

"Time to eat?" the monk asked.

"Eat breakfast," Yusuko said. She looked around her. "Where's Shippou-chan?"

"He said he was going to Kaede-obaasan's," Miroku replied.

"Not eat?" she said, frowning.

"Not this time, little girl. Maybe next time," the monk said, standing up.

"You ready to go see what Kagome and your mama cooked?" InuYasha asked Noriko.

"Go eat," she said, tugging on his sleeve.

He put her on his shoulder. "No ears this time, all right?"

"No ears," she agreed as he stood, and they all went back to the house.


	12. Chapter 12

_I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi_

**Chapter 12**

"So, Kagome-sama, you have mastered the art of breakfast soup, I believe." Miroku asked as he walked the wooded path from his house to theirs. "This morning's breakfast was excellent."

"We'll know tomorrow," she replied, smiling. "It was easy with Sango there to help me."

"Keh," InuYasha said. He was carrying a covered pot. It had a stew that Kagome was going to finish at home for their dinner, and Kagome carried a basket with the final ingredients. Miroku brought up the rear with a box of rice balls.

"And now you have the whole afternoon ahead of you, the whole evening ahead of you, all alone," the monk said. "Whatever shall you do?"

"Mind your business, Bouzu," InuYasha grumbled.

Kagome blushed a little, and touched InuYasha's arm in a calming way. "Actually, I'd like to decide where the garden should grow," Kagome said.

"A wise thing. I've already turned ours and planted the early things," Miroku said. "Did Sango give you any advice?"

Kagome nodded. "And some seeds to get started. I'm probably going to need lots of advice. I've gardened a little before, but only to raise flowers."

"You should get some radish and early mustard down as soon as you're able," Miroku advised. "Our early radish are already sprouting. Mustard spinach will do all right now, too, I think."

Miroku and Kagome continued talking about gardening, but InuYasha moved ahead a little, not paying them much mind. As they neared the little house, his nose began to pick up something though, a scent that didn't belong.

"Someone's been here while we were gone," he said, his voice low and soft, but almost a growl as he handed the stew pot to Kagome and cautiously moved closer to the building, circling around the grounds.

Miroku pushed ahead of Kagome, just in case, and once again she wished she had a bow.

"Damn," the hanyou said. He stopped next to his wood pile, where the neat woodpile had been pulled down and scattered. "That took me a long time to stack."

"So someone did come by," Miroku said.

"My nose doesn't lie," InuYasha said. "Don't think they're still here, though. They better not be." His hand rested on Tessaiga.

Further around the back, where the futon was stretched out on the clothes line, brown spots marred the fabric. Someone had tossed dirt clods on it.

"My bed," Kagome said. She put the pot down, and moved closer to the cloth, and shook it. Some of the dirt fell off.

"Yeah," the hanyou replied, resting a hand on her back. "That'll wash off. Glad it wasn't blood or that they didn't rip it."

She nodded. "You're right . . . but still it makes me feel . . . "

"Dirty," InuYasha said.

She looked up at his face. His eyes were hard and angry, but he pulled her close for a moment, and let her go. Chewing her lip, she nodded again.

They finished circling around the building but found nothing else out of place until they got to the front door.

"Wait, InuYasha," Miroku said, moving in front of him. He ripped a piece of paper off the lintel.

"An ofuda?" Kagome said.

"Not a nice one, if you have youkai blood," Miroku said, holding the paper by one corner. He frowned as he studied it.

Kagome touched it lightly. "Whoever made it had no spiritual powers. It doesn't have any more magic than the ones my grandfather makes."

"That is true," the monk said. "It looks like my handwriting, but it's definitely not charged. I wonder who put it here?"

"Gimme that," InuYasha said, putting it to his nose. "Smells like Joben and that brat of his, Aki. I thought it smelt like that brat as we moved around the house. Someone else was here, too. But his smell is all over this thing."

"Aki," Miroku said thoughtfully. "What we've seen looks like the sort of prank a boy would do. Let's go inside and see if there's anything else wrong. Let me go first, just in case they left something else behind that's not so harmless."

InuYasha, fuming, but knowing enough to not rush in, gave the monk a curt nod.

Miroku lifted the bamboo mat. After a moment, he called out for them to come in.

The house looked undisturbed. Kagome put the pot near the fire pit, and laid the basket on the low table. InuYasha walked around the room sniffing.

"Nobody's been here but us," InuYasha said after doing a circuit. Finally, his hand left Tessaiga's hilt.

"Kids, do you think?" Miroku asked. He handed his box of food to Kagome who put it with the rest.

InuYasha shrugged. "Don't smell any adults I know."

"Joben has anti-youkai ofuda all over his house. His mother put such a fear of them on him when he was young that he covers everything in ofuda and amulets. I decided he was too panicky to give him anything much that really worked. Could be his son had one and seeing nobody was home, decided to act up here." He took the ofuda back from the hanyou, looking at it carefully, as if it held some clue as to what happened.

"Or it could be his father sent him to let us know his true feelings." InuYasha clenched his fists, then relaxed just enough to cross his arms and stuff his hands in his sleeves. "I knew everything was going too well."

"One unruly boy's behavior," Kagome said, tugging on his right arm. InuYasha let her pull it loose. She took his fist in her hand. "Boys do things like that sometimes."

"Yeah, I guess," he replied, then opened his hand to take hers. "Smelled like they were two of'em though."

"I've heard they're more likely to misbehave together," Kagome said. "That makes sense."

"Still, I'm going to take this down to Kaede and Tameo, and tell them about it. They'll want to know," Miroku said, tucking the ofuda into his sleeve.

"Should we go with you?" Kagome asked.

The monk shook his head. "I know they asked you to stay up here for a few days. It would probably be better if I went alone. You being there would remind those people who aren't necessarily friendly of what's going on, and if you went storming in, InuYasha, it might cause them to feel frightened." He smiled sadly. "You're pretty intimidating when you're angry. People might get the wrong idea. And frightened people do stupid things."

"Keh. Don't have to tell me that," InuYasha said. His ear twitched at his unhappiness.

The monk clasped his friend's upper arm. "And if you're around, nobody's likely to try anything else."

"Yeah." InuYasha sighed, moved back a step from Miroku, and wrapped his arm around Kagome. "The brats left us enough work to do, anyway." Kagome looked up at him, and gave him a small, encouraging smile.

Miroku headed for the door. "Just remember, InuYasha, nobody in a village likes everybody. Just because one family causes you trouble, doesn't mean you don't have friends."

The hanyou nodded, and Miroku left.

"He's right, you know," Kagome said. "Just because people live in the same community doesn't mean they all like each other. It just means they live in the same area."

"Feh," he said, letting her go. "Let's get started. Kid really pissed me off throwing dirt on our bed. Bet his dad's having a fit that we're together. He's always whispering shit about me, and now I bet he's saying the same trash about you."

Kagome grabbed his hand back. "Maybe so, but our revenge on him will be to stay here and be happy." She tiptoed up and kissed his chin.

His arms wrapped around her one more time as he studied her face. She had her jaw set in that determined way she got. He knew that look, and having been on the receiving end of it when they didn't know each other very well, he had a brief flash of pity for anybody who might try to sneak back and cause trouble. He gave her a tentative smile back, and kissed her briefly back.

"Yeah," he said, then led her out of the house.

Most of the dirt shook off of the futon, and a little cleaning with vinegar and water got the rest. After that, InuYasha got busy restacking his woodpile. Chime, Daitaro's wife, stopped by with her son Shinjiro, bringing a gift of vegetables. Chime was a frail, stoop-shouldered woman with a heartwarming smile, and at once made Kagome feel at ease. Together they went inside and shared a cup of tea while the men talked by the woodpile. After the visit, Kagome discovered InuYasha had relaxed considerably.

At midday, InuYasha came in and they sat and ate their lunch of onigiri and pickles.

"You're right, you know," he said, after finishing his first rice ball.

Kagome looked up from her plate. "I'm right about what?"

"What the best revenge is. Some people will always hate me because of who I am. But I have friends. There are people who want us to succeed. Shinjiro and I were talking about how to keep an eye on people who wander on this side of the village. He and his dad have had trouble with kids messing things up, too." He grabbed a pickle slice from her plate. She tried to slap his hand, but he was too quick, and he popped it into his mouth and gave her a victorious, silly grin.

"Yes there are people who want us to succeed, and bratty boys who make us unhappy, both," she replied. "And there are pickle thieves, too."

"Yours taste better," he said, picking up another rice ball.

She rolled her eyes, and finished her lunch.


	13. Chapter 13

_I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi_

**Chapter 13**

InuYasha sat under a cherry tree that grew near his house, shading the area where he chopped wood. As he leaned back against the tree trunk, he flicked his ear as he watched Kagome walk past him and the wood pile as she made yet another circuit around the house. Stopping for a moment, she bent down and ran her fingers over the ground, and picked up a pinch of dirt. She looked up at the sky, and the trees overhanging the spot. Shaking her head, she began walking again.

Intrigued, he got up, and began to follow her silently. She stopped at a different place, one not far from the clothes line he had made for her, looked up at the sky, and again repeated of bending down and sampling the soil. She turned around and suddenly found herself bumping into a smiling but curious hanyou.

"This is the fourth time you've walked around the house," he said.

"I know," she said sheepishly, then chewed on her bottom lip.

"Is this some miko thing from your time?" he asked. "Are you doing a spell? Is this how you would pick out where to put a garden back in your time? I'll go back and let you finish if you are."

Kagome shook her head. "No, it's not miko anything." She looked up at the sky, and then back at the ground again. "I'm just not sure what we should do. "

"I'm sure of one thing. I don't really understand why you're doing what you're doing," InuYasha said, lightly wrapping his arms around her waist, and then pulled her close so he could rest his head on her forehead. "You wanna tell me about it? I can't help you if I don't know what's going on in that head of yours."

She gave him a small tiny smile, but pulled back from his hold and turned around, chewing on her lip again. "It's hard trying to decide where everything should go. We need a vegetable garden," she said. "Everybody's made it clear that having our own garden's really important. And I need to figure out where I want to put the laundry tub and where to hang it out to dry, but I'm not sure where we made the line for the futon is the right place. I think it's too far from the stream. And we're going to want a storage building, too, unless you want to smell the pickles and miso making and other things in the house all the time, and . . ."

"We don't have to decide it all right this minute," he said, pulling her close against her chest again. He rested his chin on her shoulder. "If you're not sure about the right place for the garden, we can ask Kaede and Sango's opinion. If we need to make a place for the clothes, that's no problem. I know this isn't how you lived back at your place. But you have friends. They know you lived differently, too. They'll help. I'll help, but I think they know more."

After a moment, Kagome relaxed in his arms, and he kissed the top of her head. But then she stood straighter and pointed to the area near the clothes line. "I'd like to put the garden there, but part of it gets too much shade, I think."

"So we'll take a tree or three down if you really want it there," he said, nuzzling the side of her neck. "We can use the wood for the shed, and we'll burn what's left."

"That might work," she said, turning to lean her face in his chest. "I'm sorry. I just realized how much I have to learn, how much I don't know how to do. I don't want to be a useless woman. I want to make your life happy, not filled with worrying about a girl who can't do anything."

"Feh," he said, just holding her. "You already make me happy. And I know you, Kagome. Anybody that can go through a year of chasing youkai, destroying the Shikon no Tama and still get home to take all those stupid test things can do anything." He lifted her chin up and gently kissed her.

She returned his kiss, then stepped back a little. "One thing at a time. Let's just see if I can cook dinner first."

InuYasha gave her a big smile. "I know you. You'll do fine. But I'll stay out here a bit longer and chop some wood. Let me know if you need anything."

She nodded. "I'll do that," she said, and headed back into the house.

InuYasha watched her, then slipped out of his jacket, laid it on the wood pile and picked up his axe. Grabbing a length of wood, he placed it on the stump he split wood on, and began to work.

After a while, Kagome stepped out on the porch. "Could you fill the water bucket up?" she asked, holding it out.

InuYasha, having gotten lost in his work, looked up and realized it was almost twilight. Wedging his ax in the stump he grabbed his jacket. "Sure. Dinner almost ready?"

"Almost," she replied. "It should be by the time you get the water."

She was smiling, which he took as a good sign. As he walked into the house and put the now full bucket in its corner, he took a deep breath. The air was rich with the smells of food.

"It smells good in here. I think I'm hungry," he said, sitting down at his place by the fire pit.

"Good," Kagome replied, slicing some pickled daikon. "It's almost ready. We need to get some trays. It'd be easier to serve if we had trays to eat off of."

"Put that on the list of things we need to get. I'll pick some up next week when Miroku and I go to market day. I just never used all that stuff for just me." He looked at her apologetically. "I never thought about it."

"That's all right," Kagome said, nodding, and handed him a small dish with pickle slices. Next she opened up one pot she had set away from the fire. Steam lifted from it.

"Rice?" he said.

"Yeah. I hope it came out right," she said. "At my mother's, we had a special cooker for rice. Sango told me how I can make it this way." She spooned some into his bowl and put it in front of him. Next she knocked the coals away from under the lidded soup pot, and opened it. It smelled of onions and fish and miso. She dipped up a bowl, and sat that in front of him, as well.

Chewing on her bottom lip, she waited for him to taste the stew. He raised the bowl to his lips, and took a sip of the broth. It was rich with the taste of miso, and slid easily over his palate. It was a recipe Sango had made a lot over the winter, hearty with winter vegetables. "It's good," he said, pulling out his chopsticks and fishing bits of vegetables and fish out. "I like it."

She gave him a smile like the sun, and dipped her food out as well.

They ate mostly in a companionable silence, but Kagome was pleased when he asked for seconds.

After the meal, he sat by the fire, watching her every move as she washed and put away their supper things. She was humming a little tune to herself, wordlessly, and moved with an easy grace. Part of him felt like he ought to say something to break the silence, but couldn't think of what to say, but he was too content to worry too much about it.

She came back and sat down by him, and rested her head against his shoulders. "I don't know the last time we got to spend so much time together, with nobody else popping in, or teasing, or trying to do this or that. Just you and me."

"Yeah," he said, wrapping his arm around her. "You like it?"

"I do," she said. "It feels like home."

"Yeah."

They sat there for a while, Kagome again humming her tune as they watched the fire burn. After a while, she stood up, smiled at him, then walked to where she stored the bedding. He got up and prepared the fire in the fire pit for the night, looking up at her as he worked, laying out the futon, taking care to smooth it out, and spreading the cover.

"Our bed," he said, too soft to be overheard. "Our house. Our life. Ours."

He watched her do her homely little chore with a flood of emotion. Somehow, in only two days, she had managed to turn what had started out as being just a shack he had built to escape once in a while from the noise and eyes of well-meaning friends into a clean and inviting place that was whispering the idea of home, a place that was uniquely theirs, a place where they belonged and where people came to them as visitors. InuYasha was overcome with the need to let her know, somehow, of all the feelings welling up inside of him at the wonder of it all.

"I wish . . . " he said, slightly louder. In the quiet of the room the soft words sounded very loud.

Kagome turned around and looked at him. She smiled, but there was some uncertainty in her eyes. "You wish?"

InuYasha moved next to her where she was sitting next to the bed and took one of her hands in his. He looked down at how it looked in his, slight and delicate, fine and soft, so much smaller than his. Hands that worked magic. "I wish . . . I wish I was one of those guys who was good with words." He wrapped his fingers around her hand, looked up at her with a wry smile. "Dammit. I wish I could say everything that's here," he said, moving her hand over his heart, "so that you could hear it."

Her blue-gray eyes glittered, and her smile lit up her face like a sunrise. "But I do hear it, InuYasha. I could hear it from five hundred years away."

She leaned towards him, brushed her lips across his. His arms wrapped around her, and pulled her into his lap. He kissed her back with hunger that surprised him.

"Does my heart tell you how much I want you?" he said, his voice low and husky.

"Of course," Her eyes had gone from housewifely to wanton, but amusement touched her lips. "Why do you think I made the bed?"

His fingers found the tie to her wrap skirt. "Will it always be like this?" He pulled the garment loose from her body.

He found her mouth again, and trailed a hungry line down her throat, even as she began to unfasten his suikan. "What does your heart tell you?"

InuYasha lifted her out of his lap and laid her on the futon. "That I will never ever have enough."

Kagome watched him as he stood up and pulled off his own clothes. She finished pulling off her own, then slipped under the covers.

"Mine says the same thing," she said.

He slipped in next to her, pulling her tightly to him. "Let's see if those hearts of ours are telling the truth.


	14. Chapter 14

_I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi_

**Chapter 14**

Sango, her son Naoya strapped to her back, walked around the little house in the clearing with Kagome. The twins trailed behind the two women, and following the girls, Miroku and InuYasha brought up the rear.

"I think you're right, Kagome," Sango said. "If we could take down those three trees, this would be a really good place for your garden. It's not too far from the stream if you need to water, and the soil looks good."

Yusuko picked up something off the ground, then ran to Miroku. "Look, Daddy!"

"It's very pretty," he said. "You want me to hold it for you?"

The little girl nodded. The monk slipped it into his sleeve.

"Your sleeves ought to be getting heavy by now," InuYasha said.

"And I don't dare drop it when the girls aren't looking." Miroku sighed. "Yusuko, particularly, will want to see it later."

The hanyou snorted.

"Just wait, my friend. Your time will come." The monk walked ahead of him and picked up his daughters. He didn't see the suddenly frightened look on the hanyou's face.

InuYasha took a deep breath and calmed himself before he caught up with the others. "So you have all figured out?"

"I think so," Kagome said. "I know where the garden should go, and the laundry area."

Noriko reached out to Kagome. "Obasan!"

She took the girl from Miroku. "I think you have made a friend there," he said, handing her over.

Kagome smoothed the girl's hair, taking out a stray piece of grass. "Maybe so. You're my friend, Noriko-chan?"

The girl nodded and wrapped her arms around Kagome's neck.

"You'll need to take some trees out," Sango said to InuYasha. "But you'll want to build some outbuildings anyway. And I think Shinjiro or one of his brothers might be willing to plow up the garden. It's heavy work, putting in the garden the first time. He's the one who plowed up ours when we started ours."

"We'll talk with him after we talk to Kaede," Kagome said, looking at the hanyou who nodded at her. "I think she'll come by today."

Miroku leaned on his staff. "I wonder what she and Tameo have planned. I know they talked yesterday. But they haven't told me anything."

The group fell silent for a moment, which for some reason, disturbed Yusuko. "Down, Daddy!"

"Maybe we should go inside," Sango said. "You did say you wanted my suggestions on what you needed to get to get started?"

Kagome nodded. "There's so much I don't even know that I need."

The women headed inside. Miroku looked at InuYasha and smiled.

"What?" the hanyou said.

"I'm just imagining what a big load you'll be carrying home this market day." The monk, and his irritated daughter, followed the others in.

"But she's worth every bit," InuYasha said, and joined them.

* * *

Kaede made her way down the path to the edge of the village, carrying a bow and quiver, but also with her collecting basket under her arm. The early morning sunlight glinted through the branches of the trees as she walked down the quiet way. The path she walked was scattered with cherry blossom petals. Looking up, she could see the blossom time was nearly over and the trees were leafing out.

"What's that?" asked the small girl walking with her. Kaede paused and waited while Rin stopped and knelt by some early spring wild flowers, pale blue.

Bending over her shoulder, Kaede said, "Ah, that is Haru-rinndou. Isn't it pretty? I always thought they look like blue stars."

Rin looked at the stand of the small wild gentians as if trying to memorize them. "Can you use them?" she asked.

"Yes, girl. You can eat the leaves and the roots make a tonic," Kaede said as they resumed their walk. "But I like them because when they bloom, they remind me that spring has come and summer won't be long. I am glad the winter is over."

"Me too, Kaede-sama," said Rin. She began to sing softly.

"Spring, spring comes again,  
the birds they sing their songs.  
Though cold winds still blow  
Flower time will not be long."

Rin looked down the path they were taking. "Are we going to see InuYasha-sama today?"

Kaede shifted her gathering basket. "Yes, dear. Tameo-sama wants me to talk to Kagome-chan about something. You, though, if you wish, could go visit Sango-chan if you would like while we're talking."

The girl tilted her head a moment, considering. "Maybe. Can you tell Rin more about Kagome-sama? InuYasha-sama seemed very happy that she came back. Rin doesn't remember her very well, though. She seems nice."

"Yes, I would say so. InuYasha had been waiting for her to come back a long time. You'll like her. She's very nice." She stopped a moment to adjust how the quiver was riding on her shoulder. "With luck, we'll be seeing a lot of her."

Rin skipped forward a few steps then waiting for the old miko to catch up with her."Do you think Sesshoumaru-sama will come by today? Rin would like to tell him about Kagome-sama coming back to stay."

"He doesn't tell me in advance before he comes," Kaede said. "Still, I suspect there's not much that passes by in this area that he doesn't know something about."

"It's been a month since he's stopped by. How will he know?" Rin looked pensive.

"I'm sure he has his ways," Kaede said. She watched the girl stoop to pick a wild flower. Rin turned it in her fingers, and chewed her bottom lip. "What is it, dear?"

Rin sighed, her dark eyes looking off into the distance. "Sometimes," she said. "Rin wonders if he's lonely. Master Jaken is with him, but still . . . "

"I do not know, child," Kaede replied. "Sesshoumaru-sama has his own ways of going through life that are not quite like the rest of us." Even after three years, the girl missed being with the youkai that had saved her life during the year of the quest, and the miko did not like to see her become saddened missing him. Somehow, she wondered if Rin was ever going to become quite the ordinary girl. In some ways, Kaede thought, she was like InuYasha pining for Kagome. A distraction was in order. Looking around, she spotted a patch of plants with tiny purple flowers. "Look there, Rin." She pointed it out to the girl.

"Hotokenoza," the girl said, remembering it from an earlier lesson. "Shall we pick some?"

"Yes, that's a good idea." She handed her basket to the girl, who deftly plucked a portion, but not all, of the henbit growing along the path and put it into the basket.

"It looks a lot like mint," Rin noted. "But different."

"It does, doesn't it?" Kaede said. "You might call them cousins. Once the weather warms up, we won't see it again until it's cool, though, even though we see mint all summer long. That should be enough."

Rin nodded. "Cousins. Like you and Tameo?"

Kaede chuckled. "Maybe so. But neither of us get to hide when it gets hot. That would be a nice thing, to escape the heat."

Rin smiled, and together, they went on their way. Not long after that, they reached the little house in the clearing.

InuYasha, sensing her, stepped out in front of the house. He stood there with his hands stuffed in his sleeves, and his ears focused straight on her, as if he were trying to decide what type of news she was bringing.

"Hello, InuYasha. Kagome is here?" Kaede asked.

He nodded. "Where else would she be?"

"InuYasha-sama," Rin asked. "Why do you look so solemn?"

He shrugged. "Not sure, kid. Why do you look so cheerful?"

Rin giggled.

He lifted the door mat. "Miroku and Sango are here, too. It might be a little crowded."

Kaede and Rin stepped inside. As InuYasha said, the room was fairly crowded. Miroku was watching his daughters playing with the rocks and sticks they had picked up, stacking them up and watching them fall. Sango was rocking a sleeping Naoya. Kagome was making tea.

"Come inside, Kaede-obaachan, Rin-chan," Kagome said, rising to greet them.

Sango, shifting Naoya from one arm to the other, made a space near the fire for Kaede to set down. "We can go if you need us to," she offered.

"No, no, my child," Kaede said. She slipped off her sandals. "It's probably good that you're here. That way, this old woman only has to tell her story once." Leaving her gathering basket in the entry, but holding onto the bow and quiver, she walked across the room to the place next to Kagome.

She unslung the quiver and bow. "I thought you might like to have a bow again, Kagome-chan. This is one that I put aside a long time ago to pass on."

Kagome bowed. "Thank you, Obaachan. You don't know how I've wanted a new one since I've gotten back." Kagome took the bow and quiver from the old miko's hands, and began to examine them.

Kaede looked at her calmly with her single eye. "Can you still make the sacred arrows?"

"What are you up to, Baaba?" InuYasha asked, moving back to his place. Rin followed and went to sit next to the twins, who immediately began showing her all their rocks.

"I don't know," Kagome said. She took an arrow out of the quiver and nocked it into the bow, and pulled back. The air began to tingle as the arrow began to glow with a bright, purifying light.  
Noriko looked up. "Pretty!"

"Well, I guess that answers that question," Miroku said.

At that moment, Naoya, who was sleeping, woke up and started shrieking. Sango put him on her shoulder, and patted his back and bounced him. "Hush, hush, baby," she said in a soothing voice.

"Did I do that?" Kagome said, lowering her bow and relaxing the string.

"Maybe," Miroku said. "We're beginning to wonder if Naoya isn't showing signs of spiritual powers already. It's not the first time he's flinched at the use of reiki or youki."

After a moment the baby calmed down.

"You are very strong, Kagome-chan," Kaede said after the younger woman sat down. "I knew you were before, but some women lose their connection to their spiritual powers after they take a husband."

"Keh," InuYasha said, putting his hand over hers.

Kaede looked thoughtful. "So now that we have established that Kagome is still gifted with her spiritual powers, we can discuss what I came to talk about."

Kagome poured tea for the old miko.

"I'm not sure exactly how to begin," Kaede said. She sipped her tea. "I'll start with what you might have guessed, InuYasha. As expected, Tsuneo, and especially his wife Haname are very unhappy with the fact that Kagome-chan is back and staying with you. They would like for the elders to drive you two out, but so far, they have few supporters. If we don't choose a path that is right, the few supporters could change with time."

InuYasha stiffened, but did not let go of Kagome's hand until she pulled it away to pick up her tea cup.

"So what do you think we should we do, Kaede-obaachan? " Kagome asked.

Kaede sipped her cup appreciatively. "Tameo pointed out to me something yesterday. The problem with both of your positions here is because you really have no binding ties here. You are not blood relative nor adopted into any of the families. You have no official tie to the local kami. The fact that you are my sister's reincarnation and helped destroy Naraku has some weight, but it only goes so far."

"But . . . but," said Kagome. "I've lived at the shrine here all my life. My grandfather is the priest where I come from. I've done work as one of the shrine miko since he decided I was old enough to help. What other place is my home?"

"Ah, but Kagome-sama, that hasn't happened yet," Miroku said. "Only in the world you came from. And the villagers wouldn't really understand it."

"Feh," InuYasha said. "She only saved them from Naraku. They certainly didn't give you a hard time settling down. They gave you the land and everything."

"That's because I offered them something they didn't have," Miroku replied. "They wanted a Buddhist priest here. Even if he is rather unorthodox."

"And there was talk about that, too, Houshi. Surprisingly, it was Tsuneo's family that were champions of that."

Noriko squealed when Yusuko knocked down her stack of toys. Rin picked her up. "Sango-obasan, may Rin take the twins outside to play?"

"That's a good idea, Rin-chan." Sango said, nodding. "All this talk isn't very fun for them."

The three girls went outside. Kaede took another sip of her tea, and gathered her words.

She put her cup down."Tameo suggested that our family adopt you in, Kagome-chan. You could become a recognized branch of our family. It would give you a right to be here that Tsuneo's people could not deny."

"Adopt me?" Kagome said.

"Is that possible?" Sango asked. "Most places don't allow the adoption of women that way. Usually they have to marry one of the villagers."

InuYasha's eyes narrowed, and he clasped Kagome's hand possessively. He didn't like the direction this was going in.

"There is one way," Kaede said. "The custom here is to take a woman in if she has some special, extraordinary function to bring to the community with her, and reasons why she cannot or will not marry into a family here. In Kagome's case, it would be her spiritual powers. Tameo suggested to me that I take Kagome in as my apprentice to be the next village miko."


	15. Chapter 15

_I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi_

 

 **Chapter 15**  
  
InuYasha suddenly scooted forward towards Kaede, his ears flattening back."The hell," he said. "A miko?"  
  
"Interesting," Miroku said, resting a hand on his friend's back.  
  
The hanyou swerved to look at the monk. Miroku nodded his head and pointed him back to his seat. Still frowning, InuYasha sat back down next to Kagome, but took her far hand, letting his fire rat sleeve drape across her.  
  
"InuYasha," the monk said, "you cannot deny that Kagome-sama has the powers of a miko. One of the most powerful. Your joining has done nothing to diminish them."  
  
"Feh," InuYasha said. "She's still my wife. Nothing's going to change that. We'll leave first."  
  
Kagome met his eyes and gave him a small, nervous smile, and nodded her head. She squeezed his hand, then turned to the older miko who watched the two of them with patience, untroubled by their reaction.  
  
"You do have the gift, child," Kaede said. "InuYasha, be calm, and let me finish."  
  
He scowled, but nodded.  
  
"I'm confused, Kaede-obaasan. Don't miko have to be unmarried? They do where I come from, or at least normally, even if all they do is help around the shrine or dance the kagura dances. Once they're ready to get married, they give up the work. I have a husband," Kagome said. InuYasha gave her hand another squeeze.  
  
The older woman nodded. "That is the usual way, yes. But," she said smiling, "there are miko, and there are miko. Some are attached to shrines, and are often ladies of the nobility, like at the great shrine at Ise. The nobles choose for those miko ladies who have no partner. Even if their spiritual powers are strong, they very seldom act as miko once they marry."  
  
"I've heard stories about some of the lesser miko at Ise," Miroku said, smirking. "Some of them are very good . . . at entertaining."  
  
InuYasha shot him a dirty look.  
  
"Hush," Sango said, giving her husband an elbow. "That's not the type of women we're talking about here. We're talking about real miko."  
  
"Thank you, Sango-chan," Kaede said. "There are wandering miko, who travel across the countryside, stopping from place to place to use their powers where they find the need. Who knows what those women do when they aren't traveling?"  
  
"I have met one or two who traveled with men I suspected were their husbands," Miroku said.  
  
"There was a woman like that who stopped by the slayer's village," Sango said. Naoya was sleeping soundly in her arms. "Miroku, lay out Naoya's blanket for me?" she asked. "She was skilled with medicines, and our village was always happy to see them coming."  
  
Miroku spread the blanket out, and she lay her son carefully down. He didn't stir.  
  
Kaede nodded. "There are others, like myself, local miko who care for their villages, using their knowledge and spiritual power to take care of their people. Often they stay unmarried all their lives, but upon occasion, they marry, and might continue in their work. After all, if the power they have to help their people remains, even if they have a husband and family to take care of, why shouldn't they?"  
  
Miroku spread a corner of the blanket over his son, then looked up. "The mountain sages, the Yamabushi, they often marry miko," he said. "It's quite common. After they marry, they often work as a team doing their spiritual work. The difference there is people know the man is a Yamabushi, and that they are a married couple."  
  
"I ain't no Yamabushi," InuYasha said. "I've got youkai blood, remember?" The hand that not holding Kagome's was clenched tightly. Kagome reached for it, and he let it relax into her smaller hand. There were red marks where his claws had almost pierced the skin.  
  
"My father told me a story of a famous miko who was married to a dragon," Sango said.  
  
"Yes, many miko over the centuries have been married to supernatural beings who were also their protectors, sometimes their connection to the spiritual world," Miroku said. "It was said, in an old text I studied, that once upon a time, that a supernatural being was the proper husband for a miko, but then the politics at the court and at Ise made the unmarried miko the usual."  
  
"You mean, people thought it was normal for a youkai and a miko to be together?" Kagome asked.  
  
Miroku nodded. "Or a miko and a kami. It gets hard to tell sometimes which is which in the old scrolls."  
  
Kagome looked up at InuYasha, who shrugged. "Hell if I know. Before my time," he said. "When I grew up, everybody wanted to kill us all." The hanyou frowned, and he looked at Kaede, as a thought struck him. "Then why did Kikyou work so hard against youkai?"InuYasha said. "If I hadn't been hanyou, she probably would have killed me the first time I showed up, no questions asked."  
  
"She was the guardian of the Shikon no Tama," Kaede said. "We know how that pulled all evil things looking for power toward it, but youkai particularly. She had been trained that way."  
  
"But we know that not all youkai are evil," Miroku said, "just like not all humans are good. And some kami do things we humans feel are evil, like bring disease."  
  
"You're sure about that, monk?" InuYasha asked.  
  
"Shippou isn't evil," Kagome said.  
  
"Feh," the hanyou said. "He's a brat."  
  
"Hachi isn't evil. Toutousai isn't evil," Miroku said.  
  
"He's smelly," InuYasha said. "And irritating."  
  
"And Myouga?" Kagome asked.  
  
InuYasha scowled. "A pest."  
  
"But not evil," Miroku said.  
  
The hanyou shook his head. "Not evil."  
  
"If you were a normal human man," Kaede said, "one of the farmers, or a merchant, this might be a harder thing for the village to accept, to have Kagome fulfill the role of miko. But you are not a normal human man. You are hanyou, with a very strong youkai side. You are and have been Kagome's protector. And the proof that this is what should be is the very fact that the magic brought you back together, so you could continue to be just that."  
  
She turned to the younger woman. "I am not asking you to become a shrine miko, Kagome-chan. But if you wish, you can work with me and learn to use your powers the way a miko does, mastering the protective magic, and how to be a healer."  
  
Kagome looked up at InuYasha, but saw no real answers there. "Do I need to give you my answer now?"  
  
"No, child. Give it some thought. It might not be the only way to protect your position. It was the first real thing that Tameo-sama and I could come up with." She looked at both of them, sitting together, exchanging glances, and feeling rather overwhelmed. The old miko took a deep breath. "But it might be one of the reasons you were allowed to come back. You, too, InuYasha - help her make a good decision, not just one based on your fears. Also, think about the work itself. Being the healer and protector is a serious task. Be sure before you decide that this is work you feel called to do."  
  
Kaede stood up. "I'll head back down to the village. Let me know what you decide."  
  
InuYasha stood as well, shaking his head. "This place is strange. First you want to keep around a married monk with a questionable background. I can understand wanting to keep Sango around, but him?"  
  
"Hey," Miroku said.  
  
Sango giggled.  
  
"And now you want a miko that's married to a hanyou. I'm having trouble understanding all this."  
  
Kaede smiled."Things change, InuYasha. Did you know that some of the villagers now say that during the fifty years when you were pinned to the tree, your spirit was watching over the village, keeping it protected?" she said. "It was a rather peaceful time."  
  
"Funny how that works," Miroku said.  
  
InuYasha, shaking his head, walked Kaede to the door.  
  
Everybody left shortly afterwards. Not sure of what to say once everyone was gone, Kagome looked at her husband, who sat in the corner, not saying anything, his face a somber mask. She began to gather up the tea cups people had used and put them in a tub to wash.  
  
As she moved, he got up. "We'll need some more water," he said, and grabbed the bucket then headed outdoors.  
  
As the doormat fell back into place, Kagome moved to sit down by the fire pit, where she threw a few sticks on the flames and stirred it back up.  
  
"I wish he would tell me what he's thinking," she said. Her voice seemed to echo in the empty house.  
  
In a few minutes he came back in with the water, and put it in its place.  
  
"InuYasha," she said.  
  
He looked at her, his ear twitching, but his face still guarded, and went back out, not speaking. Not long after, Kagome could hear him chopping wood. She sighed, then washed and dried her tea things and put them away.  
  
Looking at the tub of used water, she said, "That's it. He can't run away from me. We need to talk about this." She picked up the slop water then walked outside. She tossed it, then walked around to the side where InuYasha was working.  
  
He had taken off his jacket and laid it on a log. He stood in front of an old wide section of tree trunk he used as a base, and put a smaller piece of wood sitting on top of it. With one practiced move, he brought the wood maul he was using down on the smaller piece, and it split smoothly into two pieces. Taking one of the splits, he balanced it back on the chopping block, raised the maul up, and let it fall once again.  
  
Perhaps the wind shifted and he caught her scent, or he felt like he ought to say something, because he looked up. "Hey," he said, giving her the tiniest smile. He bent over and picked up another piece of wood and put it on the block, but then just stood there, resting the maul over his shoulder.  
  
His right ear twitched. Sunlight glinted off his silver hair, and he gazed at her with solemn amber eyes, wary and unsure. Kagome studied him, how he looked both otherworldly and perfectly belonging right where he was, and something in her ached.  
  
Putting her slop tub down, she walked over to him and rested a hand lightly on his free arm. He dropped the maul, and clasped the other hand over hers.  
  
"I feel trapped," he said, swallowing. "I...I don't know what to do. What you should do."  
  
"What we should do," Kagome said, and leaned against him. "I never expected this."  
  
His arms pulled her closely to him, and he tucked her under his chin. "We could leave, or just stay like we are now, and see what happens, or whatever. I'll do whatever it takes."  
  
"I know," she said.  
  
"Maybe Kaede was right. Maybe you were meant to come back here, maybe not to be with me, but because you have work to do." He sounded lost.  
  
"InuYasha," Kagome said, reaching up to kiss his chin, "I didn't come back across time to be a miko. I came back because I wanted to be with you. That's what made the well open."  
  
He rested his forehead on hers. "But Kaede . . . "  
  
"I don't know what all is involved here. I promise you I will never do anything that would interfere with us." She rested her hand over his heart. "I could have been a miko staying at home. I could have even been a priest. A woman priest. I could have gone to school to become the keeper of our shrine after Grandfather retires, not just as a shrine maiden. Women were beginning to be allowed to be priests before I came back."  
  
She looked up at him. It was a look that he had seen before, when she had made up her mind about something. "If that's what I wanted, I could have had it without any magic. I will never let anybody keep me from being with you."  
  
He pulled her closer into the circle of his arms. "Kagome," he murmured, kissing the top of her head.  
  
"But," Kagome said, pulling back a little so she could see his face, "now that she's asked, I think I would like to work with Kaede."  
  
His eyes went wide a moment, then he took a deep breath. "I thought you'd say that. I just wonder if they'll really let you do that and be with me?" He gently cupped her cheeks in his hands. "I know she said they would deal with it, that miko marry, and marry people . . . like me." He leaned forward and gave her a brief, tender kiss. "But sometimes people expect different. I just found you again. If I had to give you up . . . "  
  
She tiptoed up and returned his kiss. "Giving you up isn't going to happen, InuYasha. Sometimes the usual rules just don't work. How can Miroku be a monk and be married to Sango?" she said. "Don't tell me how it proves he's just a bad monk. I know monks in this time don't get married. But he fell in love with Sango and did it anyway, because that matters more. We can be like them and just do it. I think I would like to be a healer. I would hate for this village to be without someone to help once Kaede can't manage the work herself."  
  
"They'll call you a dark miko," he said. His eyes narrowed.  
  
"Who, the villagers?" she said, with a soft laugh. "I doubt they'll tell the woman who treats their illnesses and delivers their babies that she's evil."  
  
InuYasha sighed. "I don't know. Strangers. The daimyo down in Odawara. People who'll want to give you grief." He brushed his lips lightly over her cheek. "I don't want anybody making you sad or hurting you. It's going to be hard enough to explain you being with me even without you in miko clothes."  
  
"How do I explain you? How else? You are my protector. That isn't a lie. You've always been there for me. Are you worried they'll think you're an inugami?"  
  
He laughed at that. "Been calling me that since you released me from the tree and collared me."  
  
The seriousness of her look brushed away his laughter.  
  
"Please, InuYasha. Kaede's been so good to us. I like this village and don't mind living here, but that's not the real reason. We couldn't have defeated Naraku without her help. Let me try to give something back," Kagome said, her blue-gray eyes searching his face.  
  
"You're asking me?" he said, surprised.  
  
"Of course," she said. She picked up one of his hands and placed it over her heart. "I came here to be with you. You call me your wife. You have a say-so in this."  
  
"Feh. Since when have I been able to stop you doing anything you wanted?" he replied. "But Kaede-baaba has been good to me, even after you left. If this is what you want . . . "  
  
He kissed her forehead. "Promise me one other thing. Kaede's right. It's hard to be the village healer. I know you have the talent. But if you find it makes you unhappy, don't hide it. Tell Kaede. Don't get trapped into something that makes you wish you could escape."  
  
"Like Kikyou?"  
  
"Yeah," he sighed. "Like Kikyou. She really didn't have a way out that wouldn't have destroyed her life. But you do. Don't forget it."  
  
"I promise. I promise if it's more than I can handle, I'll tell Kaede. You'll probably know it before I even know it myself. I promise something else: if anything that they want me to do interferes with us, I will stop. If we have to, we will leave. I don't need to live in a village. I'd live in a tree in the deep forest if it meant I'd be with you." She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly.  
  
"Koibito," he murmured, running one hand through her midnight hair. "If you're sure, we'll go tell Kaede tomorrow."  
  
"Why not today?" she asked.  
  
He picked her up and cradled her in his arms. "I've got something else to do first."


	16. Chapter 16

_I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi_

**Chapter 16**

InuYasha pushed the mat door open, and leaped onto the wooden platform of his house, propped his sword up against the wall, and dropped his jacket on the chest. Then and only then did he allow Kagome's feet to touch the ground.

"Woman," he said, resting his forehead on hers.

"InuYasha?" she asked. She ran her fingers through his silver hair, past the flat space on the side of his head where his ears would be if he were human, and felt him shiver at her touch.

His hand covered hers, catching it at the wrist and pulling it away. He moved her hand and pressed it over his own heart.

"One day I saw you sitting on the edge of the well, and you told me you would stay by my side as long as I wanted you there. I couldn't tell you then what your words meant to me. I was stupid and confused, messed up about honor and guilt and my feelings, and I couldn't get the words out."

"InuYasha," Kagome said. He put a finger over her lips to quiet her.

"Still can't get the words out most of the time, but I'm not confused. You gave up everything in that world of yours. You're even willing to give up this piss-poor little place." He just looked at her for a moment and exhaled hard. "Feh. I can't even say it."

His hands cupped the back of her head and he leaned forward and kissed her tenderly. "You deserve more than I can give. But I will do whatever I can to give you the best life I can. Whatever it takes."

Her arms wrapped around him, and leaned her cheek on his chest. "And I will do whatever it takes for you, InuYasha."

"You've already done it. Just being here." He gave a soft kiss to the top of her head.

She glanced up. The look in his eyes was intense. It quickened something in her.

"I could do more," she said. Her hand slipped under the white of his collar, brushing up against golden skin. His breath caught, but he stilled her hand with his.

"I had something else in mind," he said, giving her a little smile when she looked back at him, confused. "How about a hot bath?"

"A bath? How?" Her face lit up.

"I just got the idea when we were walking in. Remember? Sango loaned you her big laundry tub. It's not really big enough to soak in, like in a spring, but it'll do. You sit in the tub, and I'll pour water over you. Then you can do the same for me. We'll have to heat a lot of water, though."

"Sounds heavenly," she replied.

"If you let me go," kissing her on the forehead, "I'll go get the water."

It didn't take long to build up the fire to where it was hot enough to boil water. Kagome carefully filled their largest pot with water and InuYasha put it on the fire to heat.

"Put the lid on it," Kagome directed, as she dug through the chest where she was keeping her things. "It will heat faster that way. Sitting up, she clutched the comb Sango had given to her in her hand. "Do we have any towels?"

"Uh, there's those pieces of cloth Kaede sent," InuYasha said. "Before you came here, I just usually ducked into the stream and shook off."

"I'm not very good at shaking off," she replied, "and that stream is cold! Hot water's going to be so nice." She went to the shelf where she had stored them. One piece she had turned into a mop, and wouldn't think to use, but one piece was almost big enough to wrap around her hair. She grabbed that. "Something else to add to the market list."

"Yeah," he said, filling a second pot, not quite as large. "Worse comes to worst, we could always just sit by the fire and wait to dry off." He waggled his eyebrows at her.

"I'd get cold," she said, laying her clean kosode out near the tub.

"No, you wouldn't." He stood up, walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her up. "I'd make sure of that."

"And then I'd just have to take another bath," she said, leaning into his arms.

He laughed.

After a bit, Kagome lifted the lid from the big pot to find it was starting to boil. "I think we can get started."

"Who gets to go first?" he asked. Lifting the pot off the hook, he added it to the cool water in a bucket.

She unfastened her wrap skirt, and stepped out of her kosode, and grabbed the piece of cloth she chose to use as a wash cloth. InuYasha's eyes grew large, appreciating his wife in the full sunlight. "Damn, woman, and I thought you looked good in the firelight."

The washing was fun. First Kagome sat in the tub, and let InuYasha pour water over her. She had to draw her knees up close, but the water felt wonderful. As she scrubbed her front with the wet cloth, she glanced up to see InuYasha watching her. As their eyes met, he gave her a silly grin.

"What are you thinking about, InuYasha?" she asked, smiling back as she ran the wash cloth over the top of her shoulder.

"Oh, how you used to be worried about me peeping at you when we were after Naraku." He turned back towards the fire pit, checking the water in the big kettle. Satisfied, he turned back around. "I guess things have changed now."

Kagome laughed. "Did you?" She dipped the cloth back into the water.

"You want another bucket?" he said. "Water's hot enough."

"Well did you?" she asked again. She ran the cloth over her chest, and between her breasts.

"Uh," InuYasha said. He swallowed, watching her, then moved his eyes back to her face. "You really want to know?"

"I'll take that as a yes," she said, not at all upset. "Want to wash my back for me?" She held up the cloth toward him.

He took the cloth. For a moment he just stared at it, letting the water drip on him, as if amazed by what she asked. But then he got behind her and dipped it into the tub. Moving her now soaked hair out of the way, he gently ran the cloth over her shoulders and down her spine.

"I've never done this for anybody before," he said. "Tell me if I'm doing it too hard."

"It feels good." She leaned forward to make it easier for him to reach.

He dipped the cloth back into the warm water and repeated it. "I think that's done," he said, handing her back the cloth and kissing her lightly on the shoulder.

"Thank you," she said. "I think I'm ready to get out." He helped her stand up. "Your turn, now."

After she got up and dried off, slipping on her under kosode, InuYasha stepped out of his clothes and squeezed into the tub. Kagome thought it adorable how he was still body shy around her and his cheeks colored as he walked to the tub, but he had nothing to be ashamed of in her opinion, his lean hard body moving gracefully even as he seated himself into the too small bath. She mixed hot water and cool, then took the bucket over to the tub and had him test it for heat.

"Yeah, that'll work," he said.

"Good. Get ready."

He lowered his ears in anticipation, but still he sputtered as the warm water flowed over his head and down his body. For some reason Kagome though his reaction to the water funny, and she laughed as he shoved the wet bangs away from his eyes.

"Just go on laughing," he said.

She kissed the tip of one of his ears and it flicked at the contact. "I'm sorry."

"No, you're not," he said. "Did the back of my hair get wet all the way?"

She ran her fingers through the soggy silver strands. "Nope."

"You can pour some more, but just down my back this time, all right? I hate when water gets into my face that way."

"I'll remember that," she said.

She made sure that his hair was clean, then, when he was ready, washed his back like he had done hers.

As she was running the cloth over his skin, noting every little mark and mole, he turned his head a little. "So," he said, "what about you? Did you ever peep when I was out of my clothes?"

Dipping the water back into the tub, she chuckled. "Never on purpose. I did get an eyeful once when someone ran back into my room when he was running away from hot water."

He snorted. "Told you I was stupid back then. After your brother tried to cook me, I panicked. Your room was the only safe place I could think of." He grabbed at her arm that was washing the top of his shoulder. "Did you like what you saw?"

"I think I was too panicked myself to really pay much attention that time." She freed her hand and gave him back the washcloth.

"That time," he repeated. "So were there other times?"

She sat down by the fire, and dried her hands. "You didn't say, so I'm not saying."

"I guess I'll take that for a yes, then," he said, smirking, then stood up.

Kagome, laughing, threw him a towel.


End file.
